About 15 years ago when I was young and single I bought a fairly decent (for the time) hifi setup.
It has been packed away now for some time but I have recently got it out from storage and need to replace the cartridge (bent stylus due to fiddling fingers!).
The system is LP12 Sondek valhalla cirkus, tonearm is one of the very first Origin Live (which I think is a modified Rega 250 arm) and the cartridge is a Linn K18. Amp is Arcam Alpha 8 / 9P, Alpha 8CD, Castle Kendal speakers, all mounted on a Sound Organisation rack. It was all pretty good in it's day but probably a bit old now.
Nowadays with other commitments I can't afford to be spending £250 on a new cartridge. I have no idea what cartridges are out there or what is good or not. I have listened to a friends Rega planer 3 with green Rega cartridge through older Arcam amp/mission speakers and it was all muddled and bass was loose, no detail compared to what my system used to sound like.
Can anyone recommend a cartridge which would be reasonably suited to my system for around £50, or do I really need to spend more? (When I bought the LP12 I seem to remember the turntable was the most important part, the the arm, then the cart came last so here's hoping!)
Thanks
It has been packed away now for some time but I have recently got it out from storage and need to replace the cartridge (bent stylus due to fiddling fingers!).
The system is LP12 Sondek valhalla cirkus, tonearm is one of the very first Origin Live (which I think is a modified Rega 250 arm) and the cartridge is a Linn K18. Amp is Arcam Alpha 8 / 9P, Alpha 8CD, Castle Kendal speakers, all mounted on a Sound Organisation rack. It was all pretty good in it's day but probably a bit old now.
Nowadays with other commitments I can't afford to be spending £250 on a new cartridge. I have no idea what cartridges are out there or what is good or not. I have listened to a friends Rega planer 3 with green Rega cartridge through older Arcam amp/mission speakers and it was all muddled and bass was loose, no detail compared to what my system used to sound like.
Can anyone recommend a cartridge which would be reasonably suited to my system for around £50, or do I really need to spend more? (When I bought the LP12 I seem to remember the turntable was the most important part, the the arm, then the cart came last so here's hoping!)
Thanks