Recommended cartridges or ones you at curious about

I’ve probbaly judged Nagaokas too harshly based solely on the MP11 Boron which sounded weedy on al LP12/Ittok. Might’ve been a case of not suiting the arm or maybe needing more fine tuning.

Had a couple of Nagaokas, can't remember which models though. In fact I can't even recall the sound, the only thing I do recall is that they were unmemorable.

Deccas apart, if I wanted a non-MC, I'd opt for one of the classic vintage ADC's. Getting hard to find now though.

the only denon ive owned is a 103SA,a different beast to the standard 103 and 103R,it ultimately lost out in detail to the audio technica ART-7 which i currently use.ive done the decca thing and im glad i did but i wouldn't go there again.

High end lyra for me if I was shopping, though I'll probs just get the Benz retipped and wound.

To me, Denons don't really get into the groove. Yes they are very enjoyable listen in terms of fit and forget but if you want to extract the most from the groves, there are far better cartridges for the job.

High end Lyra's, for instance, are fantastic but at a high premium. The Lyra Clavis is a great little cartridge that can be found for about £4/500 used.

The AT33PTGII is probably the best budget MC cartridge I've ever heard and TBH, it's a great listen. AT Carts lose out on the slightly softer bass presentation in my book but it's so hard to fault and it feels naughty to criticize it for the price.

Argh! Is it wise to have one in the house and NOT try it?

Only you know your financial situation but if I didn't need to return it, I'd certainly try it out.

And yes, Austria not Denmark as I mistakenly stated elsewhere lol

Are expensive MC cartridges worth it? I think they start to become too HiFi and not true to the body of the music.
I have been tempted by the Cartridge Man réputation, but having never heard one, I am reluctant to pull the trigger.

Overload or headroom relates to cartridge output level. Use to sensitive a cart and you're likely to hit the voltage rail limit on the gain stage. Most typically. Cos they've underspecced the psu, the gain devices themselves will have loads of gain to spare, they just run the psu into rail and cause clipping, breakup.

This most usually happens in the low frequencies where theres much more power requirement for a given db level, not at the hf limit where power demands are much less for the same volume level.

If you hear hf breakup it's because of an under damped cart,not the signal level.

nope
i had a linn arkiv on an lp12 ekos lingo.
pos cartridge..was all set up by doug brady in covent garden btw...they gave the whole lp12 a clean bill of health..that was my ocd hifi box swapping days..i have since learnt most hifi is plain junk and you'll never find what ya looking for

Which ADC do you recommend?
Is it “better” than an M75ED, or shall I just stick with my EPC-205 mk3?

The EPC-205 is one MM I've never tried. They are well liked. I did use the EPC-305MC for years, that was excellent!

As for ADC's, I like the XLM, 10E Mk.IV and the rare 10E Mk.II. The 550E is good too. Not tried the ZLM, but it too is rated well.

M75ED doesn't come close, it's just a decent budget MM of its time.

I use a ZLM (new original stylus) on my Dual 701 mostly and it ain't going anywhere...

If Rudi hates the OC9 it's due to balance issues elsewhere and a very harsh speaker crossover methinks. The Linn Arkiv was a very gentle almost 'dark' sounding cartridge when fitted to a Cirkus LP12 from the early 90's (so most of the plinth updates) and Ekos arm. Problems are often where you're not looking, so if the 'LP12' system sounded 'harsh,' then I'd look elsewhere as a new Arkiv just can't sound this way, at least to me...

Maybe overload margins are due to all manner of things, but the way surface ticks and splats are handled does seem to tie in with poor overload handling in the phono stage I think, but ymmv.

The 1042 sounded great on a period Rega 3/RB300, but less impressive on other deck 'systems.'

The top Nagaoka's used to be very good, but prices now are a bit silly, especially at the other end where the 200, 110 and 100 tend to sound very 'dirty' for the money now being asked. Just my vibe of course.

I'm no vinyl expert. But I always liked the sound of the budget Audio Technica MM cartridge. The one with the green body, can't remember the model number now.

S.