Dynavector DV 20X-L -- which MM will better it?

I've had a 20X-H for several years and recently replaced it with a very lightly used XX1-H (yes, they made a high output version of this). The XX1 is now updated to the XX2 in the DV line.

Now I know this isn't a MM, but I can say that there is much more resolution and inner detail and just better overall (and still musical) presentation with the XX1, as you would expect when moving up in the line. However I can also say that I seem to have lost some of the dynamic expression that I loved about the 20X. It is a very good cartridge for the price and probably one of the best deals under $1000 these days.

I couldn't go back to a MM after hearing these, and I used to be a Grado guy.

Enjoy,
Bob

Very strange thread...

I have to ask - what phonostage are you using? I can't help but think that something else is amiss here. What you're looking for: "tight punchy bass, treble extension resolution and detail" are the very definition of what the 20XL excels in at its price point. I can't imagine any cartridge bettering it in these regards AT ITS PRICE.

The only MM cartridge I've heard in this price range that gives the 20XL's high end a run for the money is the Ortofon 2M Black. That being said, the 20XL is still a much more musical cartridge to my ears than the 2M Black.

For reference - I'm running the 20XL on a Jelco SA-750D with a light ADC headshell (resulting arm effective mass is around 12g) through a PS Audio GCPH phonostage.

I can't recall where its located, but there's another thread on this site comparing the 2M Black to the 20XL and the concensus was that the 2M would be a step down from the 20XL.

I'd also recommend Soundsmith. I currently have a 20XL and the Aida or Voice are on my hit list. A buddy of mine switched from the 20XM to the Voice and he absolutely loves it.

Raul is so right about this one! It was actually made by Garrott Brothers for A&R and re-badged using a P-77 stylus.

Dear Axel,
That's a very confusing statement which I can't quite understand?
The British A&R P77 MM cartridge came out as I recall, in the early 1980s and was a very good cartridge in its own right.
The Garrot Brothers (Brian and John) in Australia, liked it so much that they 'tweaked' the internals a bit and carefully selected special styli to then re-brand the cartridge as a Garrot P77 in the mid 1980s obviously with A&R approval. In fact I can't recall being able to purchase an A&R P77 after the Garrot version became available? This Garrot P77 was head and shoulders above the A&R P77 and established the reputation of the Garrot Brothers worldwide until their ritual suicide in the early 1990s after which a company began trading under their name (and still does to this day).
If you have the A&R P77....congratulations! But if it says Garrot P77 on it, then you've hit the mother lode?

Hi Halcro,

good information and it seem to contradict what I had learned, which is: The A&R was a re-badged Garrott with a lesser / cheaper stylus initially. It then was may as you in the 80s bettered with a P-77 stylus from the Garrott P-77, which had been around (in parallel with the re-badged A&R). The Garrott having the same body as the A&R since it made no sense at all to have two different bodies. The body is usually not more 1/3 the cost of the stylus insert in any case.

One Information I have could patch into your rather different account, in that the all original A&R came from some Japanese maker. But it still seem the real tweak came from the Garrott brothers P-77 superior stylus.

I didn't know of their end --- what made them so unhappy I ask?

As to the 20X-L questions. It is in now way a disregard for the 20X-L using it a pegging / reference marker for were an MM could go -- or go past. I have most of my listening experience with my previously owned a GCPH. It a good cart for the money, which I said before ---- B U T then there seem some equally good or yet better MMs for even less money! To find these was the intention of the thread.

The A&R/Garrott P-77 is such an animal as far I as I hear it, and it came for free (at least for me...).

My current phono set-up uses ML326S phono-modules, gleaned from the ML-32 Reference pre, alas with out all the fancy remote options of the 32's modules.

Greetings,
Axel