Posted January 4, 2023 at 20:15 GMT
Hi,
I'd like to chime in even if my point of view may not be useful at a all.
I entered the world of vinyl records just because Beograms were beautiful.
Not because records sounds better or whatever else.
Of course quickly came the question of "what if my cartridge is just not good?"
And even if sometimes, on certains records, I found the sound pleasant, good, nice… I'll always going to have that little voice in my head: "maybe your cartridge is just not good".
Reading around people who are blown away with cartridges that cost a lot or using words you would never use to describe music didn't help.
Also reading about all that can turn wrong in a cartridge (stone, cantilever, suspension, coil…) didn't help either.
Then I had the opportunity to have MMC4 rebuilt by a reputable man, who's work can't be questioned. I was exited to listen to those "like new" cartridges, with new diamond and new rubber. I put them on, put a record and what I heard was… Music.
The same that with my old SP10, SP14, SP12 and not better than my recent old MMC20S.
Just music, good enough, I mean I can hear the difference with a CD or a digital file but music with the added pleasure of seing it spinning and holding the sleeve and so on.
But honestly, in the different cartridge families I could listen to, their condition and their quality level, I never heard any major difference.
I'm not saying they do not exist and that a trained or used ear can make a substantial difference between them. But I may be fuzzy, I want just to say that sometimes its more about hype than music. And forums don't help: they are so much things that can change the music between the tip of the diamond and the sound in your head: deck condition, preamplifier, amplifier, speakers, power cords (this one is for you M), room acoustics…
I let it go. As long as I can listen to music and have a spare cartridge just in case, it's good for me. I'd like to have an MMC20EN for my deck, yes, but it's only because it is silver.
And maybe if it happens, I could wake up in a different world that will make me consider this whole post as stupid, maybe… But, I doubt.
With all due respect to those who ear a difference.