Thank you very much for the effort and time you put into this. In the meantime, I bought AT VM540ML and I am beyond happy and beyond satisfied. I was looking for the original cart-stylus but couldn't find any unused so I went for the next best thing in my budget. I got some very good recomms for the AT and I'm happy I listened to those recomms.
I must say I never new the original was so neutral. Only makes me praise Technics even more. The level of Black? How did you come by these specs, I remember they were scarce at best.
Anyway, thanks again. On my voyage of restoring my late father's TT, I ran into difficulties finding a dust cover. I see you're into turntables and if you know where these could be found, I'd really appreciate it.
I remembered EPC 206 from back in the day at my friend's. And, decades later, got to measure the same cart with - by then - who knows which stylus, but always the original one. "206" tracks well, has very good channel separation an is extremely linear in frequency response. All the praise is usually lavished on 205 series, even on 207 - and 206 barely gets mentioned . It is the perfect epythome of "perfect boredom" - it never puts foot wrong, it never cries, flashes, etc - it is just there, doing its job. It is not "exciting" - in a similar way to Quad original ESL.
Of all the innumerable carts I have measured over the years, only Ortofon 2M Black behaved in similar manner - albeit at slightly higher performance level. "206" is less than 2M Black - in every respect, but VERY little.
I love and have many ATs - but nothing from the current production. It is different sound compared to either "206" or 2M Black, with a bit more emphasis on treble. Using proper load, that proverbial AT brightness can be at least tamed, if not eliminated altogether.
Unfortunately, TT dustcovers are quite a problem. To a point for a bit more upscale models, there are now sellers of aftermarket dust covers on ebay - in price bracket roughly from 150 eur and up. And dustcovers are notoriously difficult to ship ... - being light, the courier services are throwing those packages like you would not believe. So sometimes buying an entire TT with dustcover still intact and making sure the seller packs the TT properly is both cheaper and more secure way of obtaining a dustcover.