Some cartridges to also think about are Clearaudio Aurum Beta S, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood--used. Either would be about $300-400. If later on you wished to upgrade the sound, the Cartridge Man Music Maker III is very nice sounding and more detailed than most of the MM's. I picked up one used on Agon for $500. It lists for $1295. None of these would need a step up device. I've had the Clearaudio cartridges in a very fine Maplenoll Ariadne straight line tracking air bearing TT/arm combo. Any would be a large step up in sound quality to the Shure. I had the V15 back in college. OK is all.
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@bstatmeister - I’m not going to get into the MM/MC debate because we all have our own preferences, but if you want to get higher resolving sound, I would start by replacing your phono stage. Any of the Simmaudio Moon products will be a huge improvement over what you have. The LP110 is a great place to start and will work with either MM or MC carts - so you can move forward from there http://simaudio.com/en/product/110lp-phono-preamplifier/ See what it does for your sound first I made the mistake of buying budget phono stages. When I got the Simmaudio MOON - it opened my eyes to what vinyl has to offer. As for your arm - if you are interested - you might want to take a look at the Audiomods arms. They actually do a custom mount just for your turntable http://www.audiomods.co.uk/technicsarm.html The audiomods arm is a superb upgrade that you could aim for down the road. AND don’t believe anyone that says putting the Audiomods arm on the 1200 is a foolish move - I have heard what the arm did for a friend with that very table and it is an excellent upgrade that brought the best out of the table. In your shoes I would start the LP110 first - and only then, consider a cartridge upgrade. Regards - Steve |
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