[esuko]

Hello

My Ortofon OM10 has served long time but now i would want to get a new cartridge. What are your recommendations? Here my vinyl setup:

Turntable: Dual 505-3
RIAA: Lehman Black Cube
Amp: Corda Ha-2 mkII SE
Phones: K340 & HD650

Thank you for your time.

 

[lini]

The easiest upgrade would be to replace the needle 10 with the needle 20, 30 or 40. If you want to exchange the cartidge completely, there are quite a few good choices - e.g. Shure M97xE, Audio Technica AT120E, Goldring's 10xx series, Ortofon's 520/530/540II alias VinylMaster Red/Blue/Silver, Nagaoka MP11/15/20/30...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[ssportclay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by esuko /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello My Ortofon OM10 has served long time but now i would want to get a new cartridge. What are your recommendations? Here my vinyl setup: Turntable: Dual 505-3 RIAA: Lehman Black Cube Amp: Corda Ha-2 mkII SE Phones: K340 & HD650 Thank you for your time.

There is nothing wrong with your cartridge.You could upgrade the stylus like Lini suggested or get an AT440MLa from LPGear.

 

[lini]

ssportclay: I'm not so sure whether the 440MLa is such a good recommendation. I've read that the 440MLa should have a lower compliance than it's older siblings to make it fit better to modern medium mass arms. If that's true, there's a good chance it won't sound all that great on the very light ULM arm of a CS505-3.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[esuko]

I did not know that the cartridge did not age. That means when i get a new stylus it will be as good as a new cartridge after that? I like the sound of OM10 so maybe that is the best choice for me. I was also looking for those Nagaoka cartriges because of good reviews and competitive pricing.

 

[esuko]

Another question. What i'm doing wrong in my alignment of cartridge when i'm still getting distortion at the end of the record? Thank you for your replies.

 

[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by esuko /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was also looking for those Nagaoka cartriges because of good reviews and competitive pricing.

Nagaoka cartridges are indeed very good value for money. They are not frequently mentioned on forums, so ebay prices are a bargain in general. I was tempted buy a complete MPII BIN for around U$40 last week. But I already got 6 cartridges and 4 tonearms, so its time to close my eyes when I see bargains like that.

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by esuko /img/forum/go_quote.gif Another question. What i'm doing wrong in my alignment of cartridge when i'm still getting distortion at the end of the record? Thank you for your replies.

Check your stylus under a 30x magnifier there is a good chance the antiskate is not set correctly and you've worn one side of the stylus more than the other which will cause increasing misstracking the closer to the center of the disc you get.

Is your turntable sitting on a completely level surface? Have you checked with a spirit level? It's also worth putting some adjustable feet under these Dual decks as the stock ones (if they even have them) are rudimentary in the extreme.

Like Lini says finding a new cart which works well with an Ultra Low Mass tonearm these days isn't so easy. The Ortofon OM series are the obvious ones. Small quantities of Nagaoka are still available new in England and Germany ( and one would think Japan ?) . See http://www.phonophono.de/YNagaoka1.php3?Kennung= or http://www.musonic.co.uk/

If you were to go for vintage off ebay I'd get one of the Shure V15 III or IV or if you want a cheaper one M75 / 91/92 or 95. The later can be picked up for small change but a company called Jico in Japan make an exellent aftermarket stylus upgrade called SAS which elevates them to V15 levels. http://www.export-japan.com/marketin...sort=2a&page=6

A rarer one would be the Empire 909 if you can track one down. I stuck one of these one a CS-505-2 recently and it sounds stunningly good.

 

[esuko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif Check your stylus under a 30x magnifier there is a good chance the antiskate is not set correctly and you've worn one side of the stylus more than the other which will cause increasing misstracking the closer to the center of the disc you get. Is your turntable sitting on a completely level surface? Have you checked with a spirit level? It's also worth putting some adjustable feet under these Dual decks as the stock ones (if they even have them) are rudimentary in the extreme. Like Lini says finding a new cart which works well with an Ultra Low Mass tonearm these days isn't so easy. The Ortofon OM series are the obvious ones. Small quantities of Nagaoka are still available new in England and Germany ( and one would think Japan ?) . See http://www.phonophono.de/YNagaoka1.php3?Kennung= or http://www.musonic.co.uk/ If you were to go for vintage off ebay I'd get one of the Shure V15 III or IV or if you want a cheaper one M75 / 91/92 or 95. The later can be picked up for small change but a company called Jico in Japan make an exellent aftermarket stylus upgrade called SAS which elevates them to V15 levels. http://www.export-japan.com/marketin...sort=2a&page=6 A rarer one would be the Empire 909 if you can track one down. I stuck one of these one a CS-505-2 recently and it sounds stunningly good.

Seems that the damage have been done allready. So i will go to my local hifi store and ask if they would have new stylus for the OM10. I will take your advice and do the job right this time.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

[lini]

esuko: Nothing against needle 10 (bonded elliptical), it's ok for the price - still, I'd say, needle 20 (nude elliptical) or 30 (fine line) would be well worth it.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lini /img/forum/go_quote.gif esuko: Nothing against needle 10 (bonded elliptical), it's ok for the price - still, I'd say, needle 20 (nude elliptical) or 30 (fine line) would be well worth it. Greetings from Munich! Manfred / lini

But a trade off with line-contact styli (30) is they're less forgiving regarding vta. Moot point in a non-high-resolution system. I'd say go with the nude elliptical.

I also recommend having an expert check your cart. allignment, etc.

 

[esuko]

Hello again

Now i got the new stylus installed and checked alignment. But still i get slight distortion on loud passages. But usually instruments playing completely right or left there is no distortion. Is this problem of record wear or is my alignment still wrong?

 

[syncmaster68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by esuko /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello again Now i got the new stylus installed and checked alignment. But still i get slight distortion on loud passages. But usually instruments playing completely right or left there is no distortion. Is this problem of record wear or is my alignment still wrong?

Years ago I had similar problems with my Grado Prestige Black cartridge, new stylus included. I changed the cartridge for a new Shure and noticed the same distorsion at the end of the record. But when I put a mint record on the turntable, it was gone, everything back to normal.

Conclusion: worn out records won't cure even with the fanciest cartridge/stili around!
However, if you've got an old record which has never been cleaned properly, it may be worth trying a thorough clean up. It worked for me on a some records, but beware!! not all records will breath again, as I already said.

 

[esuko]

After changing the stylus i cleaned most of my records so i hope that will ease distortion and stylus wear. But in the end i'm very satisfied with changing new stylus for my 505.
There is just something very right listening music via vinyl.

 

[Black Stuart]

Esuko,
both Lini and memepool gave you good advice re. change of stylus but you also have a very good s/s phono stage. there are mods you can do to this to further improve it, check this out on the web.