Whats your take on the Ortofon SPUs?

Ohnofiasco,

A dedicated arm for SPUs is the way to go, IMO.

I like MintLPs. I have a few of them for various arms. In general, I prefer Wallytractors because the inscribed lines on the mirrored surface seem a bit more precise, and the mirroring is better, for reduced parallax, but you can't really get them anymore.

Ken Willis' Accutraks are also good. What I like about them is the lines are on the surface whereas the Mint's are beneath a layer of glass. But the Accutrak lines are even fatter than the Mint, which isn't much of an issue if you take the time to make sure the stylus comes down in the center, and they're not mirrored.

I use a short bodied SPU synergy on an Ortofon 309D, then with a TW accustic Raven one. I think folks think it wall be warm and fuzzy, because that is how it looks like it ought to sound. I find the modern SPU's are certainly on the warm side of neutral, but quite detailed and dynamic.

The TW allows adjustment of the effective arm length, that is really about all you need to do apart from checking Azimuth. You need to be clear if you need the short or long bodied SPU, I got it wrong and got a short bodied one, but you can get an adaptor to increase length to that of the long bodied type.

I love it, is it better then The Benz Micro LP I also use? Well no, but it is'nt far off and it is quite a bit cheaper.

I have a Royal Gm MkII and a couple of monos. I'm using them with a 12" arm on a Thorens TD-124. I also have a Benz Ruby Z set up on a separate turntable (Well Tempered). I love going back and forth--I fully enjoy both arrangements. Ultimately the Ruby is a bit better sounding, but it costs more than 1 1/2 times as much.
One key to getting the SPUs to sound their best is a high mass tonearm. They are quite low compliance cartridges. The longer arm I think does a lot to offset the lack of adjustment. I could easily live with the Royal full time (but I already had the Benz and I'm not getting rid of that).