Cartridge Question

If the Ortofon Black is new, you need to give it at least 50 hours to break-in. I would even recommend close to 100 hours for optimum sound before you make any judgements.

Make sure you have it setup properly, i.e. VTF, VTA, etc.

the goldring does have a warm character, and the output would be fine with the rogue....that said, the ortofon is a fine cartridge too.

Mofimadness - I had it professionally set-up by the shop's owner, so I am going to make the assumption that it was done correctly. (hopefully anyway). He alluded to the difference in sound quality when I picked it up, without being overly specific, as he really wanted me to draw my own conclusions.

I tried to isolate it with some brass (Miles Davis), and sax (Coleman Hawkins). However, it really came out when I switched to an original copy of Stevie Ray Vaughn lp, playing the track "Lenny." The guitar's high notes instantly revealed the distortion point. Before then, I had never heard this on my Thiels.

Although the tube amp was warmed up for 30 minutes prior, things never changed for the next couple of hours. I never realized that cartridges needed a break-in time, so thanks for the heads up. I was beginning to wonder if I should have just gone with a pre-amp first.

Jaybo- You are 100% correct. The Goldring is much warmer, but the output was lacking to the point that I had to turn the volume to a minimum of 50 percent, just to "really hear" the music.

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts.

The radical cut stylus on the black is very, very sensitive to correct VTA, azimuth and horizontal alignment. Check these extremely carefully, check a second, then a third time. I bet that you can get it to sound much better. You may also want to play with tracking force and anti-skate, as well.

The Ortofon 2M Blue is a wonderful cartridge and sounds fuller and richer than the Black or Bronze which are both more detailed.