Cartridge Gallery

various detail shots of phono cartridges I have....

Audio Technica

AT-140LC

AT-VM35

These two came with an SME 3009 S2 tonearm I purchased from an eBay seller in France. I haven't heard these.

Design: Moving Magnet. does not require step-up

Denon DL-103R MC

With Uwe Ebony body

Review pending. Here is a potential world-beater for those who would care to put it in one of Uwe's wood bodies, then match it up with the appropriate step up transformer. It likes a fairly heavy toneam. Design dates to 1962. Initially intended for broadcast use. Still in production. Several variations were made over the years. Currently the two versions are the DL-103 and the DL-103R. Difference is in the copper coils. The "R" uses 6-nines copper and has a different load impedance.

output voltage: .2 mV Load: 14 ohms requires step-up*

More info here

Grado Black Inevitable, cheap yet respectable and still available.

design: Moving Iron. Output Voltage: 5 mV, load: 47Kohms, does not require step-up

Ortofon Jubilee MC

close-up detail of the Shibata stylus.

This cartridge does nothing wrong. And for a retail list price of ~ $1900 it should not.

Review here.

output voltage: .34 mV, Load: 10 ohms requires step-up*

Pickering. It has been many, many years since I've heard a Pickering Moving Magnet cartridge.

Shelter 501 II MC

This cartridge has character. Dynamic. Expressive. Emotional. Nice midrange. Bass is a little tight but extended and textured. Nimble. Fast transients. With the right record, can raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Not a particularly great tracker.

Review here.

Output voltage: .4 mV. Load: 10 ohms, requires step-up*

Shure V15VxMR

This version of the V15 was made in Mexico. Now it is out of production. This is the last of the Shure V15 series. It is a nice sounding moving magnet cartridge, if a touch rolled off in the high frequencies. Capacitance of your tonearm wires need to be around 250 pF. Load = 47kohms. Static compliance is approx. 20 x 10-6nm. Compliance of this model is not as soft as earlier V15 versions. It mated well with my Rega tonearm.

Output voltage: 3 mV does not require step-up

Sumiko Blue Point Special

above: a dead Blue Point Special, sigh.

but here's a virtual one.

High Output Moving Coil. Load= 47Kohms. Works with standard MM phono stages common to most 60's,70's and 80's good quality stereo receivers.

In the late 1990's this cartridge received rave reviews within the audio press. Based on these recommendations I purchased the above sample. In practice I found that the cartridge was a good compliance match to the Thorens TP16 (mk 1) tonearm on my TD160. I also noticed that there was absolutely nothing remarkable about the sonic performance of this cartridge. Average sounding. Not bad. Not great. After about a year I managed to lightly snag the cantilever with a dust cloth. Above photos show the damage. The cartridge could have been re-tipped but I didn't feel it was worth the bother or expense. Didn't care. I would rather have saved initial purchase money for something else.

Footnotes:

*Generally, low output moving coil cartridges have a reputation to be the best sounding of their type. But the main disadvantage is that the output voltage is so low it requires a step-up device in line between itself and the phono-preamplifier. Another critical factor is the introduction of noise and hum into this very fragile and vulnerable signal. Great care must be taken to transform and deliver the signal cleanly into the phono-preamplifier. more info