Advice please. Re: project essential cart upgrade

[seasonsdownfall]

HI

thinking of upgrading pre fitted cart that's the om series to a 2m red. Does anyone know if this will be compatible!? And otherwise, would it be worth it? I need to get someone to solder the wires back to clips anyway due to accident... I'm just thinking is a 2mred not really suited to the basic project deck and am I better to wait and upgrade turntable that would be better suited or even fit with the 2m red as standard such as the project carbon which I've found for a really good price.

Thanks, any help would be appreciated

 

[The_Lhc]

The Essential is pretty similar to the old Debut II/III, I fitted the 2MRed to my Debut II, massive improvement, definitely worth it, the Red should be about 80 quid I think? Where are you getting the Carbon from that's anywhere close to that? The Carbon should sound better than the Essential/2MRed combo, I guess it's up to you if you want to spend the extra however much it'll be for the Carbon.

 

[seasonsdownfall]

Well hifix have some carbons b stock for £225 or something. Thinking if I sold my essential wont be much more to pay on top than the as you said £80 for the 2m red plus the cost of getting repaired which I've been quoted £35 for which isn't too bad. Decisions,

but yeah thanks for reply, so you think the 2m will be ok on the essentials tonearm?

cheers.

 

[MajorFubar]

Just watch-out replacing the cart on the Project. I changed the OM-5 on my dad's Debut III for a Goldring 1006 and had issues trying to get the tonearm to balance. I had to wind-out the counterweight so far that it smacked against the back of the lid. So I changed it back again. If LHC has had success with the cart you want to try, then this may not be a problem, but certainly something to KIV.

 

[The_Lhc]

Well I didn't have much of a problem balancing the debut II but to be honest I've no idea what sort of balance mechanism the essential has, so I really couldn't comment.

£225 minus sell on/trade in against £115 to repair/upgrade? That's a tricky one, there's not that much in it, I've not heard the carbon but the reviews are good and the arm is meant to be a big improvement. If it were me I might be going for the carbon...

 

[MajorFubar]

I agree, I'd probably upgrade the deck to the Carbon then if you really want a cart upgrade, do it later when the ol' purse has recovered.

 

[seasonsdownfall]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah, hopefully if i could get around £100 mark for my essential, £125 extra for new carbon, against the £80 id pay for new cart.

Think the tonearm is quite weak on the essential, perhaps id of heard more about it from others who may of upgraded their cart on essential but nothing online at all, not even to say its compatible.

i suppose the OM series is fitted to the essential for a reason, same as debut carbon and others come with the 2m red.

Decisions decisions!

 

[seasonsdownfall]

obviously if i went for the latter, and upgraded turntable entirely, i would not look to upgrade cart for a very long time!

Funny that obviously in terms of gaining better quality i could simply keep my om cart and simply replace with a better stylus such as the om10, however the 2m red was appealing because of the size, it seems more durable..

 

[The_Lhc]

obviously if i went for the latter, and upgraded turntable entirely, i would not look to upgrade cart for a very long time!

The option's there though, you could go for the 2M Blue later, I should think the Carbon is well capable of making the most of it, not something I'd want to promise about the Essential.

Funny that obviously in terms of gaining better quality i could simply keep my om cart and simply replace with a better stylus such as the om10, however the 2m red was appealing because of the size, it seems more durable..

I suspect that's simply because the body on the 2M series is chunkier, I shouldn't think there's any difference in "durability", which is not something you tend to think of in reference to cartridges anyway, to be honest.

 

[The_Lhc]

Think the tonearm is quite weak on the essential, perhaps id of heard more about it from others who may of upgraded their cart on essential but nothing online at all, not even to say its compatible.

It's definitely compatible, there's not much to be incompatible with really.

 

[MajorFubar]

...other than the size of the cartridge, mass of the cartridge, mass of the tone-arm, compliance of the cantilever, and probably several other contributing factors I've forgotten which determine whether any given arm and cartridge combo really work well together.

 

[The_Lhc]

...other than the size of the cartridge, mass of the cartridge, mass of the tone-arm, compliance of the cantilever, and probably several other contributing factors I've forgotten which determine whether any given arm and cartridge combo really work well together.

Not sure I'd be worrying that much on a sub £200 deck. The cartridge fits the headshell and it'll work. The cartridge weight is well within the range supported by the arm (4-9g, the 2MRed is 7.2g).

Best people to ask are Henley Designs. I'd still rather go for the Carbon anyway...

 

[MajorFubar]

I'd still rather go for the Carbon anyway...

That definitely would be my choice too with his money.

 

[seasonsdownfall]

Can you both suggest this to my lady too? haha.

Thanks for all the advice,

How much would be reasonable price to ask for the essential though, giving the state it's in, what with no stylus, cartridge clips broke etc.

 

[MajorFubar]

Don't know but it's an easy job to resolder the tags and re-fit the cartridge is it not?

 

[seasonsdownfall]

I'd like to think it was, but I don't feel confident enough to do it. Got a quote from a local repair company who would charge £35...

I should never of touched the cartidge, bought an om10 stylus when mine went, and I wouldn't be posting this now...!

 

[floyd droid]

Don't know but it's an easy job to resolder the tags is it no

Aye if you have a steady hand , are adept to doing some mega fine soldering to angel hair wires etc etc, then yes tis easy. But I've seen many soldering tags back on botch ups by folk who thought twas easy pische.

 

[MajorFubar]

Christ my talents are wasted. I thought every bloke knew how to wield a soldering iron lol. I've soldered everything from cartridge tags, phono plugs, 1/8" and 1/4" TRS (jack) plugs,, even horrible DIN plugs and SCART plugs. I've always just seen it as an essential part of the hobby. If you lived near me I'd do it for free, it's maybe 10 mins out my life. No perhaps 20, my old Maplin's soldering iron takes about 10mins to get hot.

 

[The_Lhc]

Christ my talents are wasted. I thought every bloke knew how to wield a soldering iron lol. I've soldered everything from cartridge tags, phono plugs, 1/8" and 1/4" TRS (jack) plugs,, even horrible DIN plugs and SCART plugs. I've always just seen it as an essential part of the hobby. If you lived near me I'd do it for free, it's maybe 10 mins out my life. No perhaps 20, my old Maplin's soldering iron takes about 10mins to get hot.

There is a bit of a difference doing cartridge wires though, too hot and you'll just melt right through, like I did doing an old 70s job last weekend!

 

[MajorFubar]

lol! you dope

Hardest thing I've ever re-soldered was the tonearm wires on a GL75. They'd snapped on one channel at the point where they passed out of the hole in the arm-tube into the base of the tonearm. I couldn't be bothered trying to completely re-wire it, so I decided to repair them instead. It was like trying to solder gnat's pubes. Complicating all this is the fact I only have one hand... I almost felt ready to take on some brain-surgery after that :rofl:

 

[seasonsdownfall]

Major fubar. Where are you residing!?

 

[MajorFubar]

In deepest Northwestshire, six miles north of Blackpool

 

[seasonsdownfall]

wow, not much use for a southerner in essex! :rofl:

 

[MajorFubar]

lol never mind.

 

[seasonsdownfall]

Quick Update!

They had none of the b stock carbons left, so i went ahead with a new one , good price too.

Arrives tomorrow - very excited.

Thanks again for your advice.

- Now, time to shift the essential!