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Is this Vinyl Rig good for my budget and ears? - Page 2

post #16 of 22
11/6/09 at 4:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ssportclay View Post
The Grados are also good cartridges but they tend to work better on lighter tonearms which makes them a poor choice for the heavy Technics 1200 tonearm.
I wouldn't have used a stock tonearm on the 1200. I had a Jelco ST-250 at my disposal at the time that I was going to fit to a 1200, but cest la vie.
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post #17 of 22
11/6/09 at 5:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by juniperlater View Post
I wouldn't have used a stock tonearm on the 1200. I had a Jelco ST-250 at my disposal at the time that I was going to fit to a 1200, but cest la vie.
The tonearm that comes with the Technics 1200 MK2 is a little heavy and a little old fashion so its best to use reasonably priced cartridges that track well on it which wont sound sibilant and spitty which mainly means the four Denons. More expensive moving coil cartridges will also work but a tonearm upgrade is probably justified before using one which brings us back to the four Denon cartridges. Replacing the stock tonearm with a good modern one changes everything. Doing so opens up a whole world of cartridges to try including Grados and very expensive moving coil models if one likes. The Technics 1200 is actually a much better turntable than it's reasonable price indicates and upgrading the tonearm is really a pretty good idea.
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post #18 of 22
11/8/09 at 1:58am
Keep us posted on this. Would love to hear how things come out.
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post #19 of 22
11/8/09 at 3:10pm
The Denon carts are at home on any grade/price of table, honestly. So, if the OP goes with the stock 1200MKII arm and uses say a Denon DL-110 cart - that cart will be at home on any arm he upgrades to, barring specific low mass arms, of course. The DL-110 has very low distortion, an extremely linear response, and tracks superbly - and has no inner groove distortion problems when set up properly - oh - and it's super quiet compared to most cartridges.

I have been looking for what actual improvement would be had by, say, using a cart that costs 10x as much as the DL-110. I mean, in truly audible differences.... so far I can't find any justifiable reason... seems the only 'real' difference you are likely to get is a different frequency response. I prefer the DL-110 myself to the nearly $1k Clearaudio Virtuosso I used to have. So, you see, I am not against using an expensive cart if it really makes a REAL difference - but I can't find anything to prove it is needed. On great recordings, on my table, on my main system, the playback simply sounds real ... enough said....

-Chris
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post #20 of 22
11/10/09 at 8:40pm
Thread Starter 
So the Denon is a MC cart? Can I use a normal phono preamp with this? 1200 still sounds like a good idea. I like that I can upgrade it later. I just want a nice sturdy turntable that I can enjoy my music on entering the hifi world.
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post #21 of 22
11/10/09 at 11:24pm
It is a MC cartridge. The answer to wether it would work with your phono pre really depends on which kind of phono pre you have or want to buy. MCs are typically much lower output than MM or MI cartridges. Therefore, it is often preferable to have a higher level of amplification from your phono pre.
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post #22 of 22
11/11/09 at 3:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by heli0sphan View Post
So the Denon is a MC cart? Can I use a normal phono preamp with this? 1200 still sounds like a good idea. I like that I can upgrade it later. I just want a nice sturdy turntable that I can enjoy my music on entering the hifi world.
The Denon DL-110 and Denon DL-160 are high output moving coil cartridges which will work with any ordinary moving magnet Phono Preamp. The Denon DL-103 and Denon 103R are low output moving coil cartridges which require a MC gain stage in the phono Preamp. The Pro-Ject Phono Box II and Cambridge Audio 640P both have the required MC gain stage to run low output moving coil cartridges. The 640P probably has a slightly better MM stage while the Phono Box II has more gain in it's MC stage which would make it a little better choice for the very low output of the Denon DL-103R. The DL-110 is the least expensive while the DL-103R has the most potential especially once it gets retipped with a fine line profile stylus.
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