Rotel RP-6400 - Best cartridge?

All the answers are in the other thread.

You basically need a high compliance cart which are rare these days so your options are more limited to what we've already discussed.

Ortofon OM series or a Nagaoka are the obvious ones. Both allow you to upgrade the stylus tip with the same cart body and the top of the range stylus models go to about 500USD.

You shouldn't spend anywhere near this on this deck though. I wouldn't go much over 200USD tops before buying a new deck, and remember chances are the high compliance cart you buy won't match a more modern tonearm.

The other ones to go for are the better carts from Shure like the M97, or a 2nd hand V15 if you can find one, or else a top of the range Stanton like the 881, or a 2nd hand 681. KABUSA is the place to look for these.

Or maybe a Grado. or an AT440MLA but I was'nt persoanlly sure about that one.

Both these carts work with low downforces and will track very well, so long as they are set up properly, and therefore be kind to you records.

This is one of the strengths of high compliance designs, which were marketed at the time as an antidote to warps, as record pressing quality went down hill as a result of the mid '70s oil crisis, with thinner vinyl and recycling commonplace.

Modern pressings are much better and this isn't regarded as so important anymore, as there are other sonic compromises involved in engineering low mass tonearms which are generally regarded as outweighing any advantages.

Both carts will suit the Rotel arm mechanically.

The Shure is slightly more flexible and will work with a wider range of tonearms because of the stabilser brush. But Shure no longer make higher quality stylii so this is now the only non DJ cart in their range really. I have heard of people fitting the V15 stylii from Jico with promising results but it's a bit of a fudge. The Shure has a pretty rolled off top end which a lot of people like but in the context of an all vintage system this can sound sluggish and lacking detail.

Nagaoka's range of carts have recently been updated but they still carry the older ones often with big discounts like Lpgear offer, and the whole range of stylii right upto the best quality profiles are still widely available. This gives a convenient upgrade path to the top range in MM carts out there, as you can just change the stylus and keep the cart body. So they score over Shure here. Also the Nagaoka will give you are more balanced sound though a vintage reciever as they have a slight treble peak rather than a roll off, while still sounding warm, a little like a Denon moving coil.

I have about 10 Shure carts including 3 or 4 versions of the V15s, their now discontinued top range model. I also have 2 or 3 Nagaoka's and in your system given the above issues, on balance I'd opt for the Nagaoka.

cool. glad you like it. Slightly brittle cartridge tags is often to be expected after 30 years. What you did with the pliers is fine. I doubt it's worth rewiring this arm so just be gentle with it and it should go on for another 30 years no problem.

The Ortofon's are definitely compatible in terms of compliance, the Grado's I am not sure about. The OM5 isn't as nice a cart as the Nagaoka MP11 though so I would just order a new stylus for that as it will be much cheaper than an equivalent Ortofon like the OM10 or OM20.

 

The OMP is I think basically just the stylus assembly which fits a P-Mount arm on it's own but when bought as an OM it comes with an extra 1/2 compatible cartridge body adaptor which would fit any conventional arm and mount any of the OM series stylii. So for instance if you bought an OM5 and removed the stylus you could fit an OMP10 onto it. Ask the dealer to confirm but I'm pretty sure that's how they work.