New Cartridge for SME 309

A friend of mine has a 309 on an HW-19 IV. The 309 has the the dampening trough and the upgraded pivot bearings. This is a terrific arm/table combination.

I don't know about the specific cartridges you are looking at, but I can say that the table/arm combination is worthy of a top grade cartridge. My friend currently runs a Transfiguration Orpheus in his setup and this cartridge sounds very good. In fact, as far as tracking a Shure test record, it does better than the Orpheus in my Vector arm on my Basis Table (cost is several multiples of the SME/VPI).

Hmmmm... top grade cartridge? Gulp. You're making me go against my religion :). Coming from an AT150ml, I don't know if I'll be able to fully appreciate these cartridges. Small steps? Besides, it'll make too much of a dent on my tire and brake budget ;).

I do have the damping attachment on my 309, improves tracking markedly. What's nice about it is that you can turn it on or off, 'cause it doesn't always make things better. I didn't know you could upgrade the bearings. What I wanted was to upgrade the internal wiring, don't know if you can do that either, its sealed from the detachable headshell. I've got a ways to go to make my VPI a Mark IV. I was actually thinking going with a Michell or Oracle which also seems to have synergy with the SME. Any other tables out there?

Hi,

I didn't mean to imply that you should go to a top grade cartridge, but that the arm and table certainly would do justice to ANY choice, even the best available cartridges.

As for upgrades, I don't know if it is possible to actually buy a particular arm and then have it upgraded later vs. buying an "upgraded" arm with better bearings, like the ABEC 7 bearings. Same thing with the arm wiring.

The friend with the SME/VPI does a lot of tinkering and also moves that arm and a Graham 1.5t between the VPI and a Technics table. On both tables, he gets the same basic performance (we both actually prefer the SME 309). I generally think that the arm, and certainly the cartridge, makes a bigger difference once you get to a reasonably good quality level. If the VPI has been giving you pretty good performance, perhaps you should think of upgrading it to the highest HW-19 status and spend the big dollars on a good cartridge.

Thanks. Its reassuring to know that my tonearm has that potential. It also good to know that turntable can be very good as well. However, I don't know if I can find all those parts here that quickly, may take awhile. Cost wise it might be just same as getting a decent used table. I'll look into sub $1000 cartridges, ZYX, Shelter.