Christmas cartridge change for the better

rayolight

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Jul 21, 2021
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Decided to change the cartridge in my old Michell Reference Hydraulic turntable over Christmas,after reading some old posts on the AT VM540ML, I've had an Ortofon 540mk2 installed for over a year and decided to install my Audio Technica VM540ML which has sat in a draw for quite a while not that I didn't like it but just preferred the separation and sound stage of the Ortofon. However this time it was going through a newly purchased Vincent PHO 701 hybrid phono preamp and a Vincent hybrid SV-237MK amp,speakers were kef ls50 meta. First play was a real shock,the detail,spaciousness,reality of sounding like the performers were in the room was amazing,tried several different styles of music and all were excellent. It is now my go to player.I also have a Clearaudio Concept turntable fitted with Ortofon 2m Black, but have to say that to my ears( and they are 74 years old) the ML540 definitely has the edge. My point for the post is that if you change any parts of your system it's always worth pulling those sometimes forgotten cartridges out of the draw,you may be pleasantly surprised
 
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rayolight

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Jul 21, 2021
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Not in a drawer? :)
Seriously, those AT ML carts are awesome.!
Yes,I feel guilty about it, think it must be the valves in the phono preamp and amp that make it sound sooo good. I like to do a bit of valve rolling and the current setup seems to work wonders. I think it fair to say that the cartridge can sound a bit harsh in a solid state amp ,but in the hybrid it sounds awesome 👌
 
If it sounds hars
Yes,I feel guilty about it, think it must be the valves in the phono preamp and amp that make it sound sooo good. I like to do a bit of valve rolling and the current setup seems to work wonders. I think it fair to say that the cartridge can sound a bit harsh in a solid state amp ,but in the hybrid it sounds awesome 👌
If it sounds harsh in any system it's not necessarily the fault of solid state or otherwise, it's just the wrong cartridge.
 

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