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  3. 146526-2589

MC suggestions

I have long been a Grado fan.  Currently running a Statement Reference v2.  I love it, but.  I auditioned the Ortofon Quintet Black and the Dyna 17d3 and the Benz Glider and while each were excellent in their way, the overall feeling, despite being faster and transparent left me wanting, I was happy enough with my Grado. Id like to take another crack at this now. What I am looking for at this point and I hope you guys can make some suggestions, is a cleaner, and more live sound. This combined with a nice sense of space and width to the soundstage.  Is this asking a lot in my price range which is 2.5k(ish)?  I am of the opinion after spending sometime trying to figure this out, that an el34 based tube amp combined with the Grado cart are just too similar in voicing(warm).  I had hope that running a ss phono stage combined with the low output statement would be just the synergy.  It definitely moved the needle in the right direction and I could live happily if I didn't think I could push it a little farther in the detail direction without losing what I love about the Grado sound.  That is primarily it is not brittle, its natural sounding, nice soundstage all around.  Perhaps if I had solid state amplification it would be a synergistic match made in heaven.  Some carts I have been thinking about are VAS, Miyajima, Dyna(I did really like the 10x5 I listened to at one point).  Not to rule out Lyra but would be worried about the thinness I've read about from some users.  Grado fans seem a little few and far between and I wonder if there are previous fans who have moved on.  Maybe I just need to have a couple carts around and their is no one right cart. I have hesitated pursuing a cart change because my system has been tuned to Grado's sound but if I can get close with another company making MC's that wouldn't call for recalibrating my rig that much would be great.  Thanks for reading and sorry to be so long winded.
128x128fourwnds
vortrex
148 posts
 
Air Tight PC7 for $2500 retail is amazing.

johnss
291 posts
 
fourwnds, that is a nice phono stage. but would suggest you change the load resistors from metal film to Vishay bulk Foil. no comparison. the noise floor will drop and micro detail will come through in spades without any sort of frequency balance changes.
fourwnds's avatar
fourwnds OP
261 posts
 
@johnss I will look into this. I wonder if the designer would agree with you and not mind humoring me. Bill has been such a cool guy to go through this process with.  This could be a nice tweak to grab that "micro detail" that I know is there. I'm listening to Hawkins/Jackson Bean Bags and damn it's almost perfect I'd say.  I know its not part of my original post for MC suggestions but has anyone listened to The Statement v2.  It would be just under my 2.5k target range, with their trade in policy it would be 2350.  Tonepub had some very nice things to say.  From what I understand Grado has apparently invested in a new winding machine.
audioquest4life
401 posts
 
How about Soundsmith Sussaro MK2, last generation on sale at various web outlets. It’s definitely a keeper for me having had several Benz LPS in rotation for a while. It has all of the superlatives you described that you wanted. 
chakster's avatar
chakster
2,482 posts
 
@lewm

By all accounts, the original MC2000 bears an aluminum cantilever with a "fine line" tip. That’s another way of saying "line contact". According to our friend, Nikola, Axel had a small supply of actual original alu cantilevers with "fine line" styli he obtained from the same suppliers that made the MC2000 cantilever/stylus for Ortofon.

Interesting, then you are safe and maybe close to the original, but still not there.

The original stylus called a Symmetrical Contact Line (SLC) diamond. This is NOT a Fine Line diamond, because in the booklet that i have with my original MC2000 they are comparing a "footprint" of different profiles including FineLine. The "footprint" (as they call it) of FineLine is not completely symmetrical, so the typical FineLine is inferior compared to Ortofon Symmetrical Contact Line (SLC). This is why i said this is a special profile.

Why the cantilever is special? This cantilever is not like any conventional ortofon aluminum cantilever, not like on any other ortofon cartridges.

The Meff value for the Ortofon MC2000 is 0.27 mg. A minimum value. It was achieved quite simply by finding the optimal cantilever length (6.15 mm), and utilizing the correct materials for moving system: an extremely light and stiff aluminum cantilever or conical shape, one of the world’s tiniest diamonds, and diminutive cross-shaped aluminum armature. The legs of the cross are hollow which has allowed for mass reduction of 66% in relation to traditional armature design.

There are much more technical details about this cartridge in the original booklet. I want to remind everyone that Boron was available for Ortofon in the 80’s, but for some reason MC2000 was designed with special aluminum cantilever.

Personally i don’t care about VdH or any other retipers, anyone can buy their own cartridges instead of messing around with refurbishing a special original design made by some other clever designers. Vintage cartridges are valuable ONLY in its original design and in NOS condition.

I don’t believe in the statement that retippers can make any cartridge better than the original. If it’s true averyone can buy a destroyed garbage without stylus/cantilever to refurbish them believing they are better than the original. It makes no sense for me at all.

Some other cartridges with aluminum cantilever are absolutely spectacular, like the FR-7fz or Miyabi MCA for example.



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