Inna, $1000 is a lot of money to me to, but trading in my Sonata for the Grado Master 2 turned out to be the right way to go for me, and I have never been so delighted. I would try a new cartridge every other day if I had the dough, but that's not the case. My line of reasoning was quite simple; if I liked the Sonata, I would like the Grado Master 2 even better. |
@orpheus10 I would try a new cartridge every other day if I had the dough, but that's not the case. Why not? But only if you really like to discover some amazing cartridges. Grado MI cartridges are good until you will find something better, it's always like that. At the moment the best Grado i've tried was Joseph Grado Signature TXZ, flagship model from the 80s. Here is a good documentary about Grado Lab |
$1500 will buy one a London Super Gold. It's a Moving Iron, not Moving Magnet, producing an output voltage of 5mV! The Herron phono amp has enough headroom to handle the London's unusually high output; not all do. The cartridge is not for everyone, but offers an extremely dynamic, visceral, exciting sound. |
Here's my take. Koetsu Rosewood..... Gone Various Denon DL 103R variants. Stock. Nuded. Midas aluminum body. All gone. Soundsmith top of the line ruby cantilever and diamond stylus replacements, ALL GONE !! Grado Statement. GONE !! What's left. My Audio Technical's AT150MLX. Incredibly good. But even better ( and the best I've heard ) Shure V15III ( not a type V, the III was better), with a Jico SAS stylus. Just unbelievably natural and realistic music. I can't imagine it getting better than this. Nuff said, Crazy Bill |
$1500 will buy one a London Super Gold. It's a Moving Iron, not Moving Magnet, producing an output voltage of 5mV! The Herron phono amp has enough headroom to handle the London's unusually high output; not all do. The cartridge is not for everyone, but offers an extremely dynamic, visceral, exciting sound. I wish! My SME M2-12R and the London don't play well together. I was really bummed when I found that out. |
