Forums - Cartridge price/ratio to turntable??

Dr3wman Seasoned Member Posts: 250	Cartridge price/ratio to turntable?? 06/06/22 at 17:44:17 What do you guys do? I know there isn't one right answer. When pairing a cart to a TT......is there a good/preferred ratio for how much to spend? 50% of the TT cost? 100%? Trying not to get carried away.
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Sean

Seasoned Member

Posts: 285

Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable??
Reply #1 - 06/06/22 at 20:04:14

I'm using a Dual 721. It was $400 or so new in '76. That's about $2200 in today's cash. But I only paid $100 for it, then another 200 or so rebuilding it. My cart was $550 and I have no idea where that puts me in the ratio!

For some maybe the cost ratio is the way to go, to me it's not. I would start with which carts are compliant with your tonearm. That will rule out some choices. Do you want MM or MC? MC requires a proper phono input which adds extra costs or considerations. After that it's about what sound characteristics you want.

I got lucky and heard the cart on a friend's system, I liked the sound so much I bought one the next day.

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Technics 1210G, AT OC9III, Cinemag 1254 SUT, ZP3, CSP2+, SE84UFO, Tekton Pendragon

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CAJames Seasoned Member "I've run every red light on memory lane." Posts: 1663	Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable?? Reply #2 - 06/07/22 at 00:23:08 I've bought 1 turntable, a Maplenoll Athena, since the mid 80's and probably half a dozen cartridges. All of the cartridges cost more, up to twice as much, as the TT. FWIW.
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chapsjon

Seasoned Member

Posts: 185

Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable??
Reply #3 - 06/07/22 at 02:00:03

I think this can be a good way to not spend money on cart quality the TT cannot transfer to the amp. Assuming the TT has no upgrades, the traditional threshold is that any cart costing more than the TT will not be fully realized.

Since I use vintage TTs, I don’t really think of it this way. I only have one modern cart, a Nagaoka MP110. I chose it partly for economic reasons, but more so for my preferred sound signature. The rest of my carts are vintage, again chosen for preferred sound signature.

Sean makes a good point about deciding between MM and MC and considering compliance and applicability of cart to tonearm. From there, I think desired sound signature is an important factor, then selecting the best one in the budget.
Vinyl engine is a great resource for cart stats including compliance, tracking force, etc…. It often includes reviews that give an idea of sound signature as well.

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LR:Mini Torii+Wright WPP100 phono, CSP2+SE84UFO, Pioneer Exclusive M4, Accuphase E-303,Graham Slee Jazz Club, Technics SL-1200MK3D Grace F-8 & Nagaoka MP-110, Yamaha NS-1000M, KEF Reference 101, Sony SS-5050
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armstdav

Seasoned Member

Posts: 177

Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable??
Reply #4 - 06/07/22 at 15:31:52

Like chapsjon, my turntables have also always been used (vintage is relative :-) ) as have been the majority of my cartridges, so that skews the ratios. In general I've used low dollar cartridges, mostly NOS MM or MCs like the Denon 103 or Zyx Bloom. As I've graduated to a better table and tonearms they've pretty much all sounded better. I recently was able to get a Zyx Airy 3 very cheaply as it needed a rebuild; the Airy used to be the top of their line and was $2K new. After some great work by Steve Leung at VAS, I was blown away at how much better it is than anything I've had before. It's my first taste of a higher end cartridge.

All that is to agree with chapsjon; if you have good enough associated equipment, a better cartridge will likely be a positive change.

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BicycleJoe Lo-Fi

Seasoned Member

It's all in one
note, Just Listen

Posts: 534

Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable??
Reply #5 - 06/11/22 at 21:09:24

When everybody discusses what's more important amplifier or speakers to invest in I went the other way and started with my source. When my vintage JVC QLY-66f DD turntable was new in 1982 it was a top of the line Japanese market choice. It came with an ortofon cart that I replaced with the Pickering V-15 from J&R.

20 years later I discovered the MM Empire EDR-9, a bargain NOS discontinued cart for $200, I still use it.

Now it has a BLISS™ Shibata stylus from Turntableneedles.com

Around 2006 I purchased a Clear Audio Maestro V1 for around $1200 that now costs the same to replace the Boron Cantilever with Nude Contact Line diamond with Clear Audio, I recently had it inspected by Sound-Smith and it is still good to go. They also repaired the TT's power supply leaking capacitors and inspected the cartridge and set up the turntable for around $500. If they had needed to replace the styli it would've been another $500.

The Maestro V2 is the most expensive MM cartridge around at this time with the the same V1 Boron Cantilever with Nude Contact Line diamond as MC cartridges that cost $25,000

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"Once there was a note, pure and easy,playing so free like a breath rippling by,the note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me,forever we blend and forever we die".

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Fidget

Verified Member

Posts: 5

Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable??
Reply #6 - 09/02/22 at 03:10:35

I have a Pro-Ject RPM 5 that I paid $1600 for (it's gone up since then). It came with a Sumiko Amethyst MM Cartridge that I liked pretty well.

When I started looking for more, rather than buying a new cart, I bought a SMARTractor and did a really good setup myself. That was a nice improvement. Then when I was looking for more again, I bought AnalogMagik and got the setup even better. Another nice improvement.

After a couple of years, I did swap the cart out for a Hana ML for $1200. Another nice improvement, but I also know I'm getting everything I can out of it because it's very well set up. I didn't want to buy the new cart first and not know it's set up the best it can be.

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BicycleJoe Lo-Fi Seasoned Member It's all in one note, Just Listen Posts: 534	Re: Cartridge price/ratio to turntable?? Reply #7 - 09/05/22 at 11:22:04 Still tracking great music after 40 plus years JVC QLY-66F WHATS Your Favorite MM Cartridge?
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