trott3r Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Cartridge for a Project perspective Turntable Hello,I have a project perspective turntable which cost £750 back in 2001 and would like to upgrade the cartridge which is a goldring 1012gx.What sort of price range would complement a turntable of this quality?In hifi world uk magazine they did a group test of cartridges in the range of £150 to £235 and are described as affordable cartridges.The Nagoaka MP-150 at £229 came out the best with the orotofon 2m blue £170 as a secondary choice.Are these cartridges the sort of range i should be looking at or am I under estimating the quality of my TT?thanks for your timeMartin ________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxmartinxx Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 The Nagoaka is nice. I'm a big fan of the Denon DL103, which I run on my VPI Scout. These are both high performing relatively inexpensive carts. I wouldn't worry about them not befitting your table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trott3r Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Is the denon a moving coil? I only have a creek obh8 phono stage which is moving magnet only Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxmartinxx Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Yeah, it is. It a tad on the low side, too. You'd want to use an MC preamp. Perfect time to upgrade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 you can just use step up transformers to get the Denon into your MM phono stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trott3r Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Dont really no what they are and wouldnt another box degrade the fragile/ very low output signal further? Going to stick with MM its just a case of which one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 step up transformers are a means of getting the signal upto a level your MM phono stage can accept and are a pretty standard way of doing it. The Nagaoka range is a pretty good range of MM cartridges but from what I can see the current ones are exactly the same as the original range with an extra zero in the part number. With both the old and new range the MP10 (100), MP11 (110), MP15 (150) and MP20 (200) share one body with different stylus and cantilever types/profiles and the MP30 (300) and MP50 (500) a different body with better windings. You can of course swap the styli about within the same range as a cheap upgrade, this is true of a lot of MM cartridge ranges. There are still a few new old stock examples of the MP10, 11, 15 and replacement stylus about but the 20, 30 and 50 were not as common. I've used and still have quite a few examples of these and they are a very good reference point as an MM cartridge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trott3r Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 allenh: I see you are from the UK. Is there any online shop that you would recommend for a new cartridge? Nagoaka seems to be thin on the ground in the UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaizada Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I also use a Nagaoka MP-110 but I load it at 100k. Just sounds much much better than at 47k. MM cartridges can be just fantastic, however, must be matched very carefully and setup properly for the best frequency response. I plan to go higher up the Nagaoka chain whenever I get around to it. Also, using a Step up Transformer is a pretty standard way to run a MC cartridge into a MM phono section. MC cartridges are JUST better by sheer physics and you will get a sonic upgrade. It's always exciting buying a new cartridge. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trott3r Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 I also use a Nagaoka MP-110 but I load it at 100k. Just sounds much much better than at 47k. MM cartridges can be just fantastic, however, must be matched very carefully and setup properly for the best frequency response. I plan to go higher up the Nagaoka chain whenever I get around to it. Also, using a Step up Transformer is a pretty standard way to run a MC cartridge into a MM phono section. MC cartridges are JUST better by sheer physics and you will get a sonic upgrade. It's always exciting buying a new cartridge. Have fun! Maybe its something that is popular in the USA because in the UK i have not seen any step transformer. The phono amp is the step transformer to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 allenh: I see you are from the UK. Is there any online shop that you would recommend for a new cartridge? Nagoaka seems to be thin on the ground in the UK trott3r I can't think of any of the top of my head apart from the obvious ebay but you shouldn't have a lot of trouble finding Nagaoka carts here, just google Nagaoka UK stock, I just did and it turned up 5 stockists apart from Amazon and ebay listings and there's probably a lot more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trott3r Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 Rather avoid ebay as you never know if its second hand slightly damaged stock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trott3r Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 thanks allenh got a few dealers in the UK to look at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaizada Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 It's got nothing to do with UK or USA. These are universal ways of doing things. MC cartridges are run with either a super high gain phono stage or a more electrical better way is to do a step up transformer into a MM phono section. MC cartridges just provide much more detail than MM cartridges for the most part. If you don't want to change your phono section, get a step up and a DL-103 cartridge and you will wonder why you didn't do this sooner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 It's got nothing to do with UK or USA. These are universal ways of doing things. MC cartridges are run with either a super high gain phono stage or a more electrical better way is to do a step up transformer into a MM phono section. MC cartridges just provide much more detail than MM cartridges for the most part. If you don't want to change your phono section, get a step up and a DL-103 cartridge and you will wonder why you didn't do this sooner Exactly A transformer is a standard way of changing the value of an electrical signal, I won't go into the physics but it's a standard thing so you might want to do a bit more reading up on it. Your cartridge uses similar principles to produce it's signal in the first place. There are plenty of step up transformers over here, Billington for one make a good selection, also a similar ratio transformer is required for some microphones so there are a lot of professional transformers used for this. Generally an MM cart has a brighter sound so you feel it is more detailed but this is only because it has emphasised the upper mid and top frequencies, an MC is more neutral in it's curve so that the overall sound is more pleasing. They are more expensive to make and generally use much more exotic materials. With a good MM you will get that instant "that sounds nice" but with an MC the effect isn't always as instant but is much longer lasting. There are of course some MC carts that have a high output so that you can drive them straight into an MM phono stage but this is always a bit of a halfway house. The Denon suggested above is a very good starting point into MC but from what you are writing I would think a Nagaoka will do what you want for now with a view to moving up the food chain into MC once you gain more of an understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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