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Which of the following P mount phono cartridges is the best:
Ortofon 320Shure MP94E Discontinued, but still brand new in the box at a couple of sites.
Shure ME94P Only available at lpgear.com
Follow Ups:
I'd be tempted to try the Ortofon. With the nude fine line tip, it's probably a winner.Incidentally there is no ME94P--that's a mistake--they reversed the letters. There is only the MP94E. It's currently out of production, so what you find is NOS. It is essentially the equivalent of the M97xE without a brush.
HenryMushrooms are the opiate of the mooses
they mislettered the cartridge.
Sorry, my bad. :)
I would pick the Ortofon simply because Shure's sound doesn't particularly appeal to me. A lot of others really like it, however.
The Ortofon is a clear winner. The Shure is smooth, but bland in comparison to the Ortofon.
Henry
I just installed an Ortofon 320U onto my deck, a twenty-year-old Curtis Mathes KP-430. It's awesome. I've been experimenting with P mounts lately. I got an elliptical stylus (718-DEE) for my original P 23 cart that came with the TT from turntableneedles.com. I found out later that LP Gear carries ad 718-DEE for about the same price once you figure in shipping--$35 or so; I got a hyperelliptical stylus from LP Gear (PASO23HE) for $39; an Audio-Technica ESCAT301, which is an AT301EP cart with Ed Saunders' shibata stylus which makes it just like the discontinued AT331LP. You can get Ed Saunders' version with an extra stylus for $79 or so, which is half the price of the remaining AT331LP's sold by LP Gear. Lastly, I just got an Ortofon 320U from a guy on Audiogon for $50, which is $20 cheaper than retail.$200 later, what do I have?
The 718-DEE elliptical was a huge improvement over the original conical stylus. The conical stylus has always been bright and sibilant, and without the internet, I have to say, I never would have known better. The drastic improvement made me want to try the hyperelliptical, and that afforded another small improvement in midrange detail, though surface noise seemed to increase a little bit. Clicks and pops seemed more noticeable, mainly. The ESCAT301, was very bright at first, but eventually broke in and seemed to be right in between the elliptical and hyperelliptical--more midrange detail, not so noisy with the surface noises.
Then, I tried the nude fine line Ortofon 320U. It sounded awesome and, what was different was for the first time for me was that I think I've heard what people talk about when they want to describe timing. Something seemed more listenable. It wasn't just the sound, but the music seemed more "together." That's all I can really say about it right now. I'll do more listening soon enough.
Of course, now I want to try, lastly, an Ortofon OMP 30, just to see how it stands up against the 320U. But it's pretty pricey. I can get a few 320 U's for the price of an OMP 30, and I've already spent $200 on carts that I can't use all at once.
I would also like to say, however, that compared to the 320 U, the hyperelliptical replacement stylus or even the elliptical replacement stylus mated to the original P 23 cart shows off what an excellent quality cart that old P 23 still is today. Is it as good as the 320 U? I'm not sure. I haven't listened enough. I can say that they're very close. The 320 U might be slightly more listenable over long periods of time. It might present less fatigue.
Of your choices, the Ortofon should be more pleasing. They always seem to have a fuller, more open sound, with a nice 3D soundstage, and better bass detail, IMHO.
My choice for a P-mount is rarer. I stumbled on an Empire 390LT which is really fantastic sounding. It is hard to source the elliptical replacement stylii for these. My next choice is the old top of the Audio Technica line, the AT152LC or AT155LC.
Please remember that new is not necessarily better. Happy hunting & enjoy the listening...
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