Best Cartridges for the Money You've Experienced

"Probably the best MM cartridge at any price."

I appreciate your enthusiasm for your experience with the AT but, have you really tried ALL the available MM cartridges that you can even begin to say such a thing. I'm sure Raul would add that the arm/cartridge relationship needs to be considered as paramount.

Correction: "ONE of the best at any price". Realistically though, do you think everyone can afford to try ALL MM cartridges available? I'd rather collect LP's than cartridges, and I've found one that sounds great and does what I want after trying some others that should have performed better than their reputation or price would indicate. I've found the level of inner groove distortion on these unacceptable and no better than the generic cartridge that came with my table!

At $179 the AT-440MLa is not cheap in my opinion, but worth it. After that price level it starts moving into MC territory, which then becomes a different story and is where most of the attention is. I think any gains in performance from a $500 or $3000 MM over this one would be very minimal at best, and at that level most audiophiles wouldn't even consider looking at a MM anyway.

So I think it's fair to say this is one of the best MM's at any price.

Chris,

As you may know, there are a lot of choices in MMs up to $2500 if you count the Grados, and I think you'll find many who will disagree with your assessment that the differences between them and the AT are "very minimal at best." There certainly seems to be a market for them, the Clearaudios and Grados being quite popular.

No offense,and sorry to be so literal, but the fact that you're willing to comment so definitively without having heard them says more about your enthusiasm than the cartridges.

Dear Chris: IMHO I think and I agree with Piedpiper on the subject.

I know very well your MM AT cartridge ( that is a good one ) but through my experiences with MM and MC cartridges I can tell you that for its price ( IMHO ) is not the the best one and certainly not one of the best " at any price ".

I'm like you a music lover and always trying to be nearest to the recording. Through my audio experiences I find out that to say ( example ) " this cartridge is the best at any price " is a very controversial subject for say the least because that " best cartridge " performance is system dependent and very specific: tonearm dependent.

I own cartridges at a lower price than your AT one that beat it. I know that " today " you are really satisfied with it and this fact is what really counts for you ( and that's fine, nothing wrong with that ) but that fact can't support your " best..... " statement. As any one of us you will grow-up on audio experiences over time and maybe " tomorrow " you can find something better than your AT ( at any price. ), this is what makes our " hobby " so exiting and with a lot of fun!!!!!.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.