Cartridge Upgrade

Good morning everyone. I'm looking for a little guidance in selecting a suitable cartridge to replace the Ortofon M2 Red that currently resides on my TT's tonearm. The TT is a Project Expression III Classic. Would it be wiser to go with a Higher Price point MM cartridge, or an entry level MC cartridge? I'm happy with the sound but there is a lot of room for improvement. My budget is roughly $750.00.

Second item: Tube Amplifiers.

A couple of ads caught my eye on the MusicDirect site; namely for a couple of Bob Carver tube amps.
The first that caught my eye are the Black Beauty Monoblocks @ 305 wpc. They are attractively priced, but I think they'll be 90% overpowered for my application. The other ad is for the Bob Carver Black Magic @ 20 wpc, 2 channel bridgeable. This may be a little more reasonable considering the volume levels I prefer (low to med). My loudspeakers are ML Vistas which are quite efficient. I suppose I'd like to know if there is anything in particular that is wrong with these models, as they are marked down substantially.
Thanks.

I have a shure V15 on my LP12/Ittok and a Koetsu rosewood on my Delphi/SMEIV

i enjoy both equally, the LP12/Ittok/V15 is much quieter for noise floor and much livelier in sound. I use old meitner phono head amps.

InterMechanico said:

Good morning everyone. I'm looking for a little guidance in selecting a suitable cartridge to replace the Ortofon M2 Red that currently resides on my TT's tonearm. The TT is a Project Expression III Classic. Would it be wiser to go with a Higher Price point MM cartridge, or an entry level MC cartridge? I'm happy with the sound but there is a lot of room for improvement. My budget is roughly $750.00.

Second item: Tube Amplifiers.

A couple of ads caught my eye on the MusicDirect site; namely for a couple of Bob Carver tube amps.
The first that caught my eye are the Black Beauty Monoblocks @ 305 wpc. They are attractively priced, but I think they'll be 90% overpowered for my application. The other ad is for the Bob Carver Black Magic @ 20 wpc, 2 channel bridgeable. This may be a little more reasonable considering the volume levels I prefer (low to med). My loudspeakers are ML Vistas which are quite efficient. I suppose I'd like to know if there is anything in particular that is wrong with these models, as they are marked down substantially.
Thanks.

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I have a friend who just purchased an Ortofon MC Rondo Red and he is extremely pleased with it. Here's a link...
http://www.soundstagedirect.com/ortofon-mc-rondo-red-cartridge-audio-equipment.shtml

Those seem like good prices at Music Direct, 50% and 40% off the normal retail! I noticed they didn't list Bob's 200wpc amp, perhaps they are getting rid of their Bob Carver stock?

Thanks for the input, guys. That Rosewood is a beautiful Cartridge, but it seems that the bargain is the V15, but they aren't exactly plentiful. It's interesting that you find them both satisfying performers, albeit with different qualities, given their respective price points. Is it an example of somewhat diminished returns as you creep up past the $1000 range? Trying out one of the Ortofon Rondo series seems like a logical step, given my general satisfaction with the 2N Red; price considered.

A little research has turned up an awful lot of information, which I'll now spend the next few days pouring over.

Those Carvers look like a real deal. The Black Beautys seem like the steal, though. At $6500 they approach what is (to me) good value, but what is very telling is the actual Mark-up on all this stuff. I seriously doubt they're losing money on them just to move them. The temptation is certainly there, though.

If a guy was interested in making a baby step into tubes, I guess the logical first step would be to have a run with a decent tube Pre-Amp, not a Power-Amp. He could also try a tube buffer in between his TT and Integrated Amp?

I suppose that a guy could also look at Bi-Amping his Vistas using the Pre-Outs on his A-S2000 to power the panels with tubes and the woofers with the integrated. If I ran with the VTA20 Black Magic, I'd only be wagering $1500 or so, plus taxes (12%).

Decisions, Decisions....

Note: Looks like I can find a Rondo Blue for about $690 give or take, but then I want to really find a deal on the Bronze. Did I mention that I'm a real bargain hunter? I don't think I've paid close to retail on anything I own, except maybe for my Condo...:eek1:
Maybe I'll start a thread on The Best Deal You've Taken Advantage Of.

InterMechanico said:

Thanks for the input, guys. That Rosewood is a beautiful Cartridge......

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I have a Rosewood as well; it's a great cartridge.

InterMechanico said:

He could also try a tube buffer in between his TT and Integrated Amp?

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Tube buffers are designed to run at line level, so it would not work. You could instead use a tube pre-preamp, though I can't think of any right now. You could, of course, buy a tube phono preamp and plug it into a line input on your integrated, instead of into the phono input.

Thank you, Bernard. I have done some reading and researching, and also some obsessing... so here is what I've come up with:

Four option from which I must choose only ONE.

Ortofon M2 Black- Fancy MM Cart; uses High Grade Stylus (800.00 dollar signs)

Ortofon Rondo Red - Entry level MC Cart; Elliptical stylus, Suggested by Steve (640.00)

DynaVector 10X5 - Entry Level MC Cart; apparently comes very highly recommended, big seller (450.00)

Soundsmith Carmen MMC- Moving Iron Cross type, tempting but unsure of its real merits (800.00)


Of these four selections, would anyone care to offer their opinion?


Julian

InterMechanico said:

Thank you, Bernard. I have done some reading and researching, and also some obsessing... so here is what I've come up with:

Four option from which I must choose only ONE.

Ortofon M2 Black- Fancy MM Cart; uses High Grade Stylus (800.00 dollar signs)

Ortofon Rondo Red - Entry level MC Cart; Elliptical stylus, Suggested by Bernard (640.00)

DynaVector 10X5 - Entry Level MC Cart; apparently comes very highly recommended, big seller (450.00)

Soundsmith Carmen MMC- Moving Iron Cross type, tempting but unsure of its real merits (800.00)


Of these four selections, would anyone care to offer their opinion?

Julian

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Good suggestion Bernard!

slowGEEZR said:

Good suggestion Bernard!

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HEHE Sorry Steve, all better now.

what do you think?/??

No problem, I thought it was funny.

Okie Doke, here's an update. After much hmmming, hawing, and a very busy work schedge for the past 9 days, I've settled on and placed an order for the Dynavector 10X5 MC Cartridge. I'll report back on whatever improvements I hear.

Fine choice! That's a very famous cartridge. Very neutral sounding. I (well, a friend of mine) made some digital transfers using that cartridge and they sound great.

I like the Benz cartridges. Currently using a Ace medium output will soon be upgrading to either a Glider or a Wood. Smooth yet detailed sound, musical as opposed to HiFi. YMMV

Amps can't have too much power, ever! As for wrong with them, I doubt it, just didn't sell enough to keep at regular prices.

risabet said:

I like the Benz cartridges. Currently using a Ace medium output will soon be upgrading to either a Glider or a Wood. Smooth yet detailed sound, musical as opposed to HiFi. YMMV

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big 'benz' fan here as well but I've heard as of late they are difficult to come by and I can't remember why ???

twich54 said:

be 'benz' fan here as well but I've heard as of late they are difficult to come by and I can't remember why ???

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I've Noticed they are out of stock at a lot of places also. If unavailable I also like the Dynavector sound.

twich54 said:

be 'benz' fan here as well but I've heard as of late they are difficult to come by and I can't remember why ???

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Health issues with one of the principals ????

The US Benz distributor said they were severely backed up and waits could be as much as one year! I ended up with a Dynavector XX2 mkII and love it. Great tonal balance and incredible retrieval of detail with out any etch and dynamics to die for (not literally of course).

I am currently leaning towards a Dynavector 17D3.

I bought the Ortofon 2M Black back in January and it is a terrible tracker. (I've done the whole setup with USB microscope and oscilloscope, so we won't go there. ). The Shure V15VMR is what I came from, and the 2M Black can't hold a candle to its trackability. Records I never had a problem with will trip up the Black. And the arm is a fine match also. The problem on the 2M Black is the fat aluminum cantilever creates a very high moving tip mass, so despite the stylus being exactly perfect in alignment, the cantilever holds it back. The Ortofon Cadenza Black and Quintet Black use that same stylus with a much lighter weight boron cantilever, which is what this cart really needs. The peaky response also points right back to that aluminum cantilever.

The 17D3 also has a fine line type of stylus but the cantilever is very short (1.7mm to be exact), so it not only lowers the effective tip mass, resonances are pushed up past the range of hearing (like they are on the V15VMR, which had a paper-thin beryllium cantilever). What I've heard in a demo so far is very promising.

I may ship out my V15VMR to be retipped by Soundsmith, just to have it as a backup cart.

Rudy, did you try the Ortofon at the maximum tracking force, or slightly above?