Looking for a cartridge recommendation!

[MMJ]

Since I will be selling a bunch of Ortofon Concordes , what would everyone here recommend to get as a replacement? Looking for a cartridge around 650 USD, putting it on an AT-LP120x with 150pF and 47kOhm.

Thanks all!

 

[Cwopete5]

Never put a $650 phono cartridge on a $400 turntable. Beyond the point of diminishing returns. Recommend the AT-VM95 cartridge line.

 

[Thomas_A]

AT-VM745xML, and use 150-200 pF/ 30-36 kOhm loading.

 

[MMJ]

Forgot to mention that I have access to around 150pF with 47kOhm and no way of changing it.

 

[USER]

Never put a $650 phono cartridge on a $400 turntable. Beyond the point of diminishing returns. Recommend the AT-VM95 cartridge line.

Fixed it for you

 

[USER]

Forgot to mention that I have access to around 150pF with 47kOhm and no way of changing it.

Since you probably have around 220-250pF total (including your phono cable) you probably want the aforementioned AT-VM95 as long as your tonearm is a good match and can handle something akin to a medium-medium-minus compliance cartridge. In 1982 --I mean 2026-- you should not be using an elliptical stylus and ML ones are the best made today. Many of the more expensive AT cartridges require less capacitance so they won't be optimized in your system. There is almost no information at 15kHz and above so you don't need a better frequency response (or a more expensive cartridge) than this below.

 

[antcollinet]

Since I will be selling a bunch of Ortofon Concordes , what would everyone here recommend to get as a replacement? Looking for a cartridge around 650 USD, putting it on an AT-LP120x with 150pF and 47kOhm.

Thanks all!

Get a VM95ML cartridge and a Parks Audio waxwing phone stage instead. About the same money - but the phone stage will povide vastly more benefits than the minor improvements from a more expensive cartridge.

 

[MMJ]

Since you probably have around 220-250pF total (including your phono cable) you probably want the aforementioned AT-VM95 as long as your tonearm is a good match and can handle something akin to a medium-medium-minus compliance cartridge. In 1982 --I mean 2026-- you should not be using an elliptical stylus and ML ones are the best made today. Many of the more expensive AT cartridges require less capacitance so they won't be optimized in your system. There is almost no information at 15kHz and above so you don't need a better frequency response (or a more expensive cartridge) than this below.
View attachment 553940

What do you think about the nagaoka mp500 with my existing setup? Lp120x with the Fosi X5. Worth to extend the budget? (on sale where I live with a large discount)

 

[Thomas_A]

What do you think about the nagaoka mp500 with my existing setup? Lp120x with the Fosi X5. Worth to extend the budget? (on sale where I live with a large discount)

If you can solder loading plugs I would still suggest the AT745xML. Below is sweep with the Ortofon test LP (adjusted for its flaw).

 

[Subwaffler]

I wouldn't put anything more fancy than an ATVM95E on an ATLP-120.

 

[MMJ]

Since I will be selling a bunch of Ortofon Concordes , what would everyone here recommend to get as a replacement? Looking for a cartridge around 650 USD, putting it on an AT-LP120x with 150pF and 47kOhm.

Thanks all!

Thank you everyone, went with the 95ML!

 

[antcollinet]

Thank you everyone, went with the 95ML!

Good choice. One of the best value cartridges on the market.

 

[Balle Clorin]

If you can solder loading plugs I would still suggest the AT745xML. Below is sweep with the Ortofon test LP (adjusted for its flaw).

View attachment 553964

How do you do the adjustment? It wold be nice yo save the clear audio and JVC record

 

[Thomas_A]

How do you do the adjustment? It wold be nice yo save the clear audio and JVC record

It's JPs correction, which is the correct one (my first one was not, even if it looked good).

If you record flat use the following in Audacity's Nyquist prompt, it corrects for the error in time constants when it was cut:

(biquad-m *track* 0.73137993061956 -0.39063797071820 -0.27569578143734 1.0 -0.59106473412185 -0.39977762693709)

However, If it is recorded with RIAA, you need to reverse it to flat before you do the above one. So these ones needs to be done before the above:

(setf *track* (biquad-m *track* 7.9682567668766300E+00 -5.2724672933908900E+00 -1.4469430767688700E+00 1.0000000000000000E+00 3.6557310000000000E-01 1.4996620000000000E-02))
(biquad-m *track* 1.10057904093330000E+00 -6.65301031771105000E-01 -4.30266896696176000E-01 1.00000000000000000E+00 -5.75527420000000000E-01 -3.79604780000000000E-01)

 

[Balle Clorin]

That the problem Audacity add ins do not work on my pc, it did before , but not this pc

Edit , not a problem I asked Claude to make a script

Spoiler: Script Ortofon correction for flat recording

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Apply a biquad IIR filter to a WAV file (e.g. for sweep-test equalization).

Biquad coefficients follow the standard form:
b0, b1, b2, a0, a1, a2
as used in SoX-style "biquad" definitions.

Spyder usage:
Just set INPUT_WAV and OUTPUT_WAV below, then hit Run (F5).
"""

import numpy as np
from scipy.io import wavfile
from scipy.signal import lfilter

# --- Your biquad coefficients ---
# biquad-m track b0 b1 b2 a0 a1 a2
B0 = 0.73137993061956
B1 = -0.39063797071820
B2 = -0.27569578143734
A0 = 1.0
A1 = -0.59106473412185
A2 = -0.39977762693709

b = [B0, B1, B2]
a = [A0, A1, A2]

# --- Set your file names here (must be in the same folder as this script) ---
INPUT_WAV = "sweep.wav"
OUTPUT_WAV = "sweep_eq.wav"


def apply_biquad(in_path: str, out_path: str):
rate, data = wavfile.read(in_path)

orig_dtype = data.dtype
is_int = np.issubdtype(orig_dtype, np.integer)

# Work in float64 for filtering precision
if is_int:
max_val = np.iinfo(orig_dtype).max
x = data.astype(np.float64) / max_val
else:
x = data.astype(np.float64)
max_val = 1.0

# Handle mono vs multi-channel
if x.ndim == 1:
y = lfilter(b, a, x)
else:
y = np.zeros_like(x)
for ch in range(x.shape[1]):
y[:, ch] = lfilter(b, a, x[:, ch])

# Guard against clipping after filtering
peak = np.max(np.abs(y))
if peak > 1.0:
print(f"Warning: filtered signal peak = {peak:.3f}, normalizing to avoid clipping.")
y = y / peak

if is_int:
y_out = np.clip(y * max_val, np.iinfo(orig_dtype).min, np.iinfo(orig_dtype).max)
y_out = y_out.astype(orig_dtype)
else:
y_out = y.astype(orig_dtype)

wavfile.write(out_path, rate, y_out)
print(f"Wrote filtered file: {out_path} ({rate} Hz, {y_out.shape})")


if __name__ == "__main__":
apply_biquad(INPUT_WAV, OUTPUT_WAV)

@Thomas_A
Not sur how correct it is but this is what Claude gave me. Blue Ortofon sweep, red =after biquad processing, The cartridge is AT33PTGii, is has a droop below 10khz, but I am sot sure if it should be so pronounced all the way from 1000 hz.. Just some random Ortfon sweep I had.

Is the Bi-quad to correct it to JVC TRS-1007 or CA TRS-1007?. I have some recent JCV sweeps I can check with too




2200hz as reference