Want to upgrade my cartridge from 2m blue to black
I think @chakster is a little ignorant when it comes to this issue.He knows more than anyone. Just ask him, he'll tell you. Or don't ask him, he'll still tell you. Buying 60 cartridges demonstrates... something. But spending less than the cost of a cartridge on a turntable upgrade doesn't make sense... |
@uberwalts There is also an Astatic mf300 on ebay, NOS including headshell for $599. No idea if that is twice as good as the mf100? No, it’s not Astatic MF-100 is like Glanz MF-71L, Astatic MF-100 is like Glanz MF-31L. Huge upgrade over all of them is Glanz MFG-610. If you are considering Astatic MF-300 for $599 you can buy much better cartridges for the same price (or even cheaper), for example the Audio-Technica AT-ML150 OCC or Stanton 881s mkII or Pickering XSV-3000 are all under $400 normally (and much better). But for $280 Astatic MF-100 is great. For this price an Ortofon M20FL Super with FineLine stylus is also superb. @rollintubes I think @chakster is a little ignorant when it comes to this issue. I’ve upgraded tone arms (which a TT upgrade would do) and used the same cart. The sound improvement was significant. Putting a shibata tip on an ortophon blue is like driving a boom box with a 300w amp. Jus’ sayin’ Upgrading tonearms is what i’ve been doing for years, but you can’t mount a good tonearm on cheap Music Hall belt drive turntable, also you can’t probably buy a much better turntable with better tonearm for $700 (except some vintage used items) which was the OP’s maximum budget. If you cartridge can not extract maximum from the record groove and your whatever tonearm can’t compeslate it, no matter which tonearm. The signal goes from the record grooves and stylus profile extract music from the grooves. Wider frequency response and accurate reproduction is a primary function of the stylus and cartridge, then it depends on any other componets in the chain. But not vice versa. Upgrading tonearm is great if you already have a great cartridge with nice stylus profile. MM cartridges designed to swap styli, what you’re sayin in noncense. MM cartridge manufacturer designed different styli at different cost to let the buyer choose what he need, if anytime anyone would like to upgrade MM cartridge a first thing to do is to buy a better stylus. I want to remind you again that Music Hall tonearm was matched with 2M cartridge by the manufacturer (the synergy must be OK). If you have a little bit of technical knowledge you can look at comparison chart of the 2M line to understand the generators are all the same! You can continue tube rolling. I think you’re changing tubes in the amp, but not the amp for the tubes. Some NOS tubes cost more than the whole amp! I’ve been there too. @big_greg But spending less than the cost of a cartridge on a turntable upgrade doesn’t make sense... This hobby is all about constant upgrade of everything, it’s all about spending money of everything related to the audio system. We’re doing it step by step. When the OP asked for a cartridge upgrade is not a good idea to tell him he must buy another turntable first. |
When the OP asked for a cartridge upgrade is not a good idea to tell him he must buy another turntable first.In your opinion, which you have yet to demonstrate is based on any actual experience with the turntable the OP has. I would have welcomed that kind of advice before I spent the money I did trying to upgrade that table only to discover later there was a more cost effective and more impactful option. The OP has made a decision and moved on. Perhaps you should consider doing the same. |
