Want to upgrade my cartridge from 2m blue to black


My first post here on the forums and I needed an honest opinion. I have a cheap music hall mmf 2.2 turntable with 2m blue installed. I like the sound but was wondering if I can get better details from upgrading to a black cartridge on my basic turntable. Would it be worth it? I’m definitely an analog lover but am budget constrained. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
tubelvr1

Showing 2 responses by hawkfum

Just noticed this comment.

'The reason why Black is more expensive than Blues is much more compliacated stylus profile of the Black, not a cartridge generator, the generator is the same'.
  
That is not correct.
The 2M black body is made of a different material to that of the blue, there are also component differences inside. Silver wire for example.
 Hopefully I can offer you a definitive answer as I have gone through them all, in a manner of speaking..
I started off with a 2M Red on an SME3009s2i fitted to a Transcriptors Hydraulic reference that I had rebuilt, you can see my reaction to the sound on YT at Transcriptors Hydraulic first play if you're interested.
The day after I made the video I upgraded to a Blue stylus as it was obvious the TT/arm combo was good enough to warrant it, I was very pleased with the upgrade.
A few months back I saw a company selling the 2M Bronze cartridge at an unbelievable price to clear them, just over £200, I ordered one with a plan in mind as I will reveal.
It was my plan to sell the brand new stylus, which I did for about the same price as the cartridge cost me and then use the blue stylus in the bronze/black body. My reasoning being that all the blue styli I would ever buy would benefit from the superior body.
The improvement over the stock blue was so marked I ended up biting the bullet and buying a black stylus at their promotional price of £300. Am I happy, oh yes I am, it was an absolute pig to set up correctly but well worth the effort and expense.
So definitively, you can interchange all the 2M styli and bodies, mess the geometry up however and it may well sound worse than your blue, very fussy stylus profile methinks.
Oh yes, video on YT of the deck with the black cartridge for comparison, see 'Psychedelic Transcriptors'.
Hope that helps you.