chromewaves
Member
I appreciate this is a common question and I am wading through the archives looking for insights, but I'm going to start my own thread anyways.
So due to a momentary lapse in caution, my 9-month old grabbed the tonearm on my Rega P6 and basically mushed the cantilever of the Ania cartridge. To look at it it should be a total loss, but oddly when I play a record with it (after moving it back into as much of a correct position as I can), to uncritical listening it sounds fine. Channels balanced, no distortion. Very unexpected. That said, I'm reluctant to play much with it in case the improper alignment carves up my records. And so I'm shopping for a new cart much earlier than I expected (the old one was 1.5 years old).
I am not someone who likes tinkering with my setup too much, have never been very good at turntable set ups and alignments and whatnot. So from that point of view, a new Ania as a drop-in no fuss replacement would make the most sense. However as good as it sounds, I also regard it as a pretty poor value at full retail and the lack of a replaceable stylus also bothers me. And so I'm looking at what else is on the market.
Ideally I'd like something that doesn't require installing spacers, and is reasonably easy to set up. If that's asking too much, I may as well bring it all in to a shop to do the set up for me (including spacer install if that ends up being a thing). Probably more important is good sound - I liked the crispness and detail of the Ania, didn't like the IGD of the elliptical stylus - replaceable stylus, and decent value for money. Something coming in more around the $500-600 mark would also be nice, though the budget isn't the dealbreaker here.
currently investigating the Audio-Technica VM540ML, Dynavector 10X5MkII, Hana EL/SL, Nagaoka MP-200, Ortofon 2M Bronze/Black.
current setup is the P6 into a Rothwell Rialto phono stage into Rega Elex-R into Dynaudio X18s. Listening mostly rock.
THANKS.
So due to a momentary lapse in caution, my 9-month old grabbed the tonearm on my Rega P6 and basically mushed the cantilever of the Ania cartridge. To look at it it should be a total loss, but oddly when I play a record with it (after moving it back into as much of a correct position as I can), to uncritical listening it sounds fine. Channels balanced, no distortion. Very unexpected. That said, I'm reluctant to play much with it in case the improper alignment carves up my records. And so I'm shopping for a new cart much earlier than I expected (the old one was 1.5 years old).
I am not someone who likes tinkering with my setup too much, have never been very good at turntable set ups and alignments and whatnot. So from that point of view, a new Ania as a drop-in no fuss replacement would make the most sense. However as good as it sounds, I also regard it as a pretty poor value at full retail and the lack of a replaceable stylus also bothers me. And so I'm looking at what else is on the market.
Ideally I'd like something that doesn't require installing spacers, and is reasonably easy to set up. If that's asking too much, I may as well bring it all in to a shop to do the set up for me (including spacer install if that ends up being a thing). Probably more important is good sound - I liked the crispness and detail of the Ania, didn't like the IGD of the elliptical stylus - replaceable stylus, and decent value for money. Something coming in more around the $500-600 mark would also be nice, though the budget isn't the dealbreaker here.
currently investigating the Audio-Technica VM540ML, Dynavector 10X5MkII, Hana EL/SL, Nagaoka MP-200, Ortofon 2M Bronze/Black.
current setup is the P6 into a Rothwell Rialto phono stage into Rega Elex-R into Dynaudio X18s. Listening mostly rock.
THANKS.
