Congratulations Elizabeth. Glad to see that you are enjoying your new found "bundles of joy" : )
As a basic suggestion, i would look for a phono system that uses a medium mass arm. This allows you the widest range of cartridges to choose from. As to specific arms, i would look for an arm that allows easy VTA adjustments. Having to "shim" a cartridge is a real "P.I.T.A.", even if you only have to do it once in a great while. Some arms do not have VTA but can have this feature added by purchasing aftermarket parts / services. Personally, i would buy one that was designed "right" from the factory rather than pay for a flawed item and then have to pay again to correct such an oversight later on.
I'll pass on suggesting a new table as i'm not real familiar with a lot of the newer tables in the Rega / Music Hall category. If looking for a used model that is quite affordable, you might consider an AR "The Turntable", ES-1, EB-101 or ETL-1. These are all basically the same table with slight production variations. Once again though, they all had low mass arms on them, so you would have to pay attention to what cartridge you mated with them or change the arm to something a little more versatile ( medium mass ).
Other than that, i would HIGHLY suggest looking into a Denon 103 phono cartridge. It offers phenomenal bang for the buck. Only problem is that it is a low output MC, but your ARC phono pre should handle that no problem. As far as loading goes on this cartridge, you should try to get the resistance down to about 15 - 30 ohms ( no higher than 100 ohms at most ) and experiment with about 300 - 1500 pF's of total capacitance.
When loading in this manner, the cartridge has a slightly "warm" quality. If using a more conventional loading ( higher resistance and lower capacitance ), the cartridge will provide a rising response on the top that would be just the opposite of what you are looking for. Obviously, one can somewhat tailor the sound of such a cartridge to their system or personal liking by fiddling with the loading that the cartridge sees. Bare in mind that this cartridge will NOT work well in a low mass arm such as the Dual that you are using or the AR mentioned above.
If you want a cartridge that will work in just about any arm that you mount it in, there's the old reliable Shure V15 series. While i don't think that it is outstanding in any given category, it "works" with just about anything that you throw at it and does so reliably. I can think of quite a few cartridges that i would rather own, but none that are nearly as versatile or easy to work with. As such, it has remained a reviewers favorite even though it is not a top performer. Personally, i think that the Stanton 881 is a FAR superior high output cartridge in every aspect, but it really only works well in a very low mass arm. Unlike the Denon mentioned above, it would be a great match with something like the Dual or AR arm.
Drop me an email if you like and i'll see what i can do about forwarding some good yet easy to understand info on TT set-up. Good luck and keep us posted : ) Sean
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As a basic suggestion, i would look for a phono system that uses a medium mass arm. This allows you the widest range of cartridges to choose from. As to specific arms, i would look for an arm that allows easy VTA adjustments. Having to "shim" a cartridge is a real "P.I.T.A.", even if you only have to do it once in a great while. Some arms do not have VTA but can have this feature added by purchasing aftermarket parts / services. Personally, i would buy one that was designed "right" from the factory rather than pay for a flawed item and then have to pay again to correct such an oversight later on.
I'll pass on suggesting a new table as i'm not real familiar with a lot of the newer tables in the Rega / Music Hall category. If looking for a used model that is quite affordable, you might consider an AR "The Turntable", ES-1, EB-101 or ETL-1. These are all basically the same table with slight production variations. Once again though, they all had low mass arms on them, so you would have to pay attention to what cartridge you mated with them or change the arm to something a little more versatile ( medium mass ).
Other than that, i would HIGHLY suggest looking into a Denon 103 phono cartridge. It offers phenomenal bang for the buck. Only problem is that it is a low output MC, but your ARC phono pre should handle that no problem. As far as loading goes on this cartridge, you should try to get the resistance down to about 15 - 30 ohms ( no higher than 100 ohms at most ) and experiment with about 300 - 1500 pF's of total capacitance.
When loading in this manner, the cartridge has a slightly "warm" quality. If using a more conventional loading ( higher resistance and lower capacitance ), the cartridge will provide a rising response on the top that would be just the opposite of what you are looking for. Obviously, one can somewhat tailor the sound of such a cartridge to their system or personal liking by fiddling with the loading that the cartridge sees. Bare in mind that this cartridge will NOT work well in a low mass arm such as the Dual that you are using or the AR mentioned above.
If you want a cartridge that will work in just about any arm that you mount it in, there's the old reliable Shure V15 series. While i don't think that it is outstanding in any given category, it "works" with just about anything that you throw at it and does so reliably. I can think of quite a few cartridges that i would rather own, but none that are nearly as versatile or easy to work with. As such, it has remained a reviewers favorite even though it is not a top performer. Personally, i think that the Stanton 881 is a FAR superior high output cartridge in every aspect, but it really only works well in a very low mass arm. Unlike the Denon mentioned above, it would be a great match with something like the Dual or AR arm.
Drop me an email if you like and i'll see what i can do about forwarding some good yet easy to understand info on TT set-up. Good luck and keep us posted : ) Sean
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