sjc@angband.UUCP (Steve Correll) (10/01/84)
Re the query, "Is a $250 cartridge 10 times as good as a $25 cartridge?",
I'll offer one experience. Some years ago, after I traded studenthood for
a real grownup job, I traded my Shure M91ED for a Shure V15 Type III. The
difference was pretty striking. I heard all kinds of new details on old
records, loud passages were less harsh, I deciphered certain song
lyrics that had always puzzled me, and (unfortunately) I realized that
the old cartridge had scarred some of my records in passages where it
didn't track properly.
Later, when I traded the V15 Type III for a V15 Type IV, the sound
improved further, but more striking was the new cartridge's ability to
play some warped records which I had given up for lost.
I paid not $250, but roughly $125 for each of the V15 cartridges, which
were widely discounted. I gather that the gap in quality between cheap
and expensive cartridges has diminished, but I'd be inclined to invest
the extra $100. Even more important, though, I'd advocate choosing a
cartridge/tonearm combination that minimizes the effect of record warps
(e.g., high compliance cartridges require low-mass arms). You can pore
over compliance and arm-mass specifications (High Fidelity Magazine
periodically prints a little nomograph for this purpose). Or you can
just buy one of the Shure cartridges with the resonance-damping brush
which, despite its gimmicky appearance, has worked well for me.--Steve
--
--Steve Correll
sjc@s1-c.ARPA, ...!decvax!decwrl!mordor!sjc, or ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!sjc