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RE: MM vs MC is MC THAT much better?

Posted by flood2 on December 29, 2016 at 15:35:25:
I wouldn't get too hung up about the transducer principle. The differences between cartridges (whether MC or not) will largely come down to the usual issues of manufacturing tolerance and alignment accuracy in your system as well as loading.
It just so happens that with MCs being more expensive they tend to be partnered with better styli which also credits them with better sound.
The big advantage is the low inductance which shifts the electrical resonance well outside the audible range to nearly the MHz range depending on the system loading.

With MM, the FR flatness is the result of the electrical resonance and mechanical resonance interaction. It is often stated that MM has a limited FR range due to the high inductance. Whilst this is true to an extent if you simply look at the loading and cartridge inductance, Stanton was able to achieve a bandwidth of 50kHz into a standard 47k load with the 981HZS which has a specified cartridge inductance of 450mH.

The audibility of phase change due to the electrical loading is a contentious subject. However, by shifting the electrical resonance well outside the audible range due to the low inductance associated with a LO design, the only limitation to the FR range would be due to mechanical properties.

Although no longer available, the Stanton/Pickering low impedance bodies very successfully demonstrate that the transducer principle doesn't make an audible difference and give the advantage of a replaceable stylus assembly with a very low tip mass and wide frequency response to rival and beat similarly priced LO MC. At that point in time (late 70s/early 80s), MMs typically had the lowest effective tip mass and the low impedance design enabled a response to extend beyond 50kHz.

HOMC like the Denon DL110 achieve the high output by increasing the coil inductance. This is at the expense of effective tip mass which naturally goes up and reduces the HF tracking ability and can result in a coarseness on hot cuts.

MMs available now are not of the same standard that they were in the late 70s early 80s. So you may well get a better performing/sounding MC these days compared to what is on offer with MM.

AT MMs whilst on the one hand being superlative technically, tend to have a rather unpleasant brightness but that is an engineered peak around 10 to 12kHz. The AT MC cartridges tend to have a more neutral balance.

The degree to which you find MC sounding better than what you have will come down to how much you are prepared to spend to "scratch your itch"!

John's suggestions are good. I would just advise caution with a Denon DL301/II though. I have two and the second one simply doesn't meet specifications and was a terrible tracker. The first was fantastic. Take home message - beware of variability!