Denon DL110 Moving Coil Cartridge vs Sumiko Black Pearl MM

[admin_exported]

Just thinking of the future, as I'm tight and my Elys 2 still has some life left in it.

After doing some research on the tinternet came up with these two as possible replacements.

All suggestions and opinions welcome.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Al ears]

I have not heard the Sumiko but I would personally go for neither of these (not too fond of high output moving coils in this range) I'd plump my money on a Shure M97xe.

Only a suggestion.

 

[stevebrock]

I have not heard the Sumiko but I would personally go for neither of these (not too fond of high output moving coils in this range) I'd plump my money on a Shure M97xe.

Only a suggestion.

you seem to be up on carts!

what would you put on an RP6? something under £300?

 

[Anonymous]

I have not heard the Sumiko but I would personally go for neither of these (not too fond of high output moving coils in this range) I'd plump my money on a Shure M97xe.

Only a suggestion.

Cheers that is actually on my short list but am intrigued by these two

 

[Al ears]

It is near impossible to get someone to let you audition a cartridge. You are going to have to bite the bullet and buy one. Whatever you end up getting you should bear in mind that, if you don't like it you can always sell it on at very little loss.

If you do happen to live near a friendly dealer you should lose even less if you take it back to him to try something else.

 

[Al ears]

I have not heard the Sumiko but I would personally go for neither of these (not too fond of high output moving coils in this range) I'd plump my money on a Shure M97xe.

Only a suggestion.

you seem to be up on carts!

what would you put on an RP6? something under £300?

You don't say what your ancilliary equipment is, apart from the RP6. Do you mean to buy only a new cartridge? Pressumably you would be looking at a Moving Magnet type, or do you own a phono preamp that would allow you to use a moving coil?

 

[Anonymous]

It is near impossible to get someone to let you audition a cartridge. You are going to have to bite the bullet and buy one. Whatever you end up getting you should bear in mind that, if you don't like it you can always sell it on at very little loss.

If you do happen to live near a friendly dealer you should lose even less if you take it back to him to try something else.

Cheers, I know its a odd thing about cartridges they make a big difference but can understand to lack of demo available,

thats one of the reasons for the thread to get different opinions before I dive in.

 

[stevebrock]

It is near impossible to get someone to let you audition a cartridge. You are going to have to bite the bullet and buy one. Whatever you end up getting you should bear in mind that, if you don't like it you can always sell it on at very little loss.

If you do happen to live near a friendly dealer you should lose even less if you take it back to him to try something else.

i have it going into a Brio R phono stage

 

[plastic penguin]

It is near impossible to get someone to let you audition a cartridge. You are going to have to bite the bullet and buy one. Whatever you end up getting you should bear in mind that, if you don't like it you can always sell it on at very little loss.

If you do happen to live near a friendly dealer you should lose even less if you take it back to him to try something else.

Cheers, I know its a odd thing about cartridges they make a big difference but can understand to lack of demo available,

thats one of the reasons for the thread to get different opinions before I dive in.

If you have good rapport with a dealer they'll let you try different carts, if you can spare the time that is. Before buying mine they tried a Ortofon first.

FWIW, the ClearAudio, so my Rega dealer says, will work a treat with Rega TTs.

 

[Al ears]

It is near impossible to get someone to let you audition a cartridge. You are going to have to bite the bullet and buy one. Whatever you end up getting you should bear in mind that, if you don't like it you can always sell it on at very little loss.

If you do happen to live near a friendly dealer you should lose even less if you take it back to him to try something else.

i have it going into a Brio R phono stage

I guess that means low output moving coils are out. Try to find a good dealer who might let you try cartridges if you can but my guess is you are looking for a good 'general purpose cartridge' (unless you only listen to one particular genre of music / or purely mono recordings / or (unlikely) only have 78 rpm vinyl!).

For you money you should be looking at a good quality Moving Magnet or, at a push the Dynavector 10x5.

If this is the case I would suggest:-

Grado Reference Platinum 1

Goldring GL2500

or, probably the best all-rounder I have heard that is still going, and that is the Goldring G1042.

 

[Anonymous]

or, probably the best all-rounder I have heard that is still going, and that is the Goldring G1042.

That one keeps coming up mmmmm

 

[chebby]

or, probably the best all-rounder I have heard that is still going, and that is the Goldring G1042.

That one keeps coming up mmmmm

I used one for 11 years on a Rega Planar 3 (with two stylus replacements as it got used quite a bit).

Gorgeous sound regardless of it being a MM. A true classic.

 

[Anonymous]

or, probably the best all-rounder I have heard that is still going, and that is the Goldring G1042.

That one keeps coming up mmmmm

I used one for 11 years on a Rega Planar 3 (with two stylus replacements as it got used quite a bit).

Gorgeous sound regardless of it being a MM. A true classic.

Cheers I've got about half a dozen in mind as replacements from £70 to £230

 

[stevebrock]

Well after speaking to Peter@Cymbiosi, demo of carts are totally out of the question - they make about £50 on a Dynavector 10x5!

I guess its a suck it an see approach!

Im totally spent up on my hifi fund now.......however i did buy a Purple Wool mat for my RP6 - think it will go well with the yellow Exact!

 

[Al ears]

Probably will not be that bad..... when hidden beneath a piece of black vinyl.

 

[stevebrock]

Probably will not be that bad..... when hidden beneath a piece of black vinyl.

I think it will look cool.......and obviously will sound better

 

[drummerman]

Well after speaking to Peter@Cymbiosi, demo of carts are totally out of the question - they make about £50 on a Dynavector 10x5!

I guess its a suck it an see approach!

Im totally spent up on my hifi fund now.......however i did buy a Purple Wool mat for my RP6 - think it will go well with the yellow Exact!

It's easy to get carried away and there is always something better/different. Go easy and just enjoy your music for a while.

You could try the DIY route and do some simple things such as damping the counter weight with a sorbothane ring, heat shrinking the head shell lifter, etc etc.

Good things with TT's is that little things like that can make quite a difference, not always for the better, but they are very easily reversed and fun to try.

regards

 

[Al ears]

Probably will not be that bad..... when hidden beneath a piece of black vinyl.

I think it will look cool.......and obviously will sound better

'Course it will. Especially when you play .... The Clash.

 

[Anonymous]

Probably will not be that bad..... when hidden beneath a piece of black vinyl.

I think it will look cool.......and obviously will sound better

'Course it will. Especially when you play .... The Clash.

I'm guessing Steves not a electrician :shifty:

 

[davo]

No-one seems to have raised compatibility. My Denon DL110 works well with my Thorens arm but that could be because the arm is heavy - about 14gms and the compliance of the cartridge is very low - from memory about 12. You would need to check the resonances with your arm.

 

[Anonymous]

No-one seems to have raised compatibility. My Denon DL110 works well with my Thorens arm but that could be because the arm is heavy - about 14gms and the compliance of the cartridge is very low - from memory about 12. You would need to check the resonances with your arm.

Cheers for that will do

 

[stevebrock]

Probably will not be that bad..... when hidden beneath a piece of black vinyl.

I think it will look cool.......and obviously will sound better

'Course it will. Especially when you play .... The Clash.

I'm guessing Steves not a electrician :shifty:

funnily enough yes!

 

[m00dawg]

I can't say I agree with suggesting the M97xE is better than the DL-110. In fairness, music is subjective and matching turntables, arms, amps, etc. are all factors. On my SL-1200, however, the DL-110 sounds far far superior to my ears than the Shure M97xE. It also has much better tolerances for left/right balance than the M97xE. The 110 is also defintiely quite loud and my MM stage on my CA 640P handles it quite well. Being an HOMC, it gets over-driven on the MC stage so, for all intents and purposes, you can consider it an MM in terms of coupling it to a phono amp.

The M97xE can be had for much cheaper than the 110, however, so it can't hurt to try it. I found it not very musical, nor is it as good as the 110 on clarity in the higher range (you can resolve that by changing the loading in your phono stage supposedly). It is does, however, sound good and made me truly appreciate buying records in the modern age we live in. But after having the 110, I won't be ever going back to the M97xE.

You can't upgrade the stylus on the 110, however, so you have to consider that in part of the cost of the 110 and, as a result, the M97xE will give you a much better cost/benefit. You can also try the JICO SAS stylus with it. I think at that point, though, it may be better to get a higher end MM if you want to go that route. The tolerances on the balance of the M97xE were noticeably large. I haven't tried other MM cartridges but it might be worth some exploration.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't say I agree with suggesting the M97xE is better than the DL-110. In fairness, music is subjective and matching turntables, arms, amps, etc. are all factors. On my SL-1200, however, the DL-110 sounds far far superior to my ears than the Shure M97xE. It also has much better tolerances for left/right balance than the M97xE. The 110 is also defintiely quite loud and my MM stage on my CA 640P handles it quite well. Being an HOMC, it gets over-driven on the MC stage so, for all intents and purposes, you can consider it an MM in terms of coupling it to a phono amp.

The M97xE can be had for much cheaper than the 110, however, so it can't hurt to try it. I found it not very musical, nor is it as good as the 110 on clarity in the higher range (you can resolve that by changing the loading in your phono stage supposedly). It is does, however, sound good and made me truly appreciate buying records in the modern age we live in. But after having the 110, I won't be ever going back to the M97xE.

You can't upgrade the stylus on the 110, however, so you have to consider that in part of the cost of the 110 and, as a result, the M97xE will give you a much better cost/benefit. You can also try the JICO SAS stylus with it. I think at that point, though, it may be better to get a higher end MM if you want to go that route. The tolerances on the balance of the M97xE were noticeably large. I haven't tried other MM cartridges but it might be worth some exploration.

Cheers for the reply but last night after a couple of days research went totally left field

and ordered a clearaudio concept mm cart.