Let's see your turntable.

[Maks]

Pete, that HK is a beaut! The 2M Black is an excellent cart as well, I'm sure that's an amazing sounding setup.

[Vintage Pete]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Good for you.


Great rig. My friend, the "tweaker" has a bit older HK with the Rabco ST-8 arm. Sounds great and he loves it.
If you listen to lots of vinyl you might try one of the similarly priced MC cartridges. Once I did, I found them so superior I've never looked back at MMs.

Glenn.....it's interesting you should say that. When I bought the table in 1984, I purchased with it an Ortofon MC10 Moving coil cartridge. At the time, I was still using my Crown IC-150A preamp, which did not have an MC input. So, I bought along with it an STM-72 matching transformer (the MC10 and STM-72 actually came as a kit). I loved the cartridge, and in fact I used it for 32 years. (I moved up the McIntosh C40 preamp, but alas, it did not/does not have an MC input). I continued to use the STM-72 matching transformer right along, but after a time I started having problems with it-the main problem being the RCA jacks were too close together on the end of the cylindrical body, and so eventually I had signal drop outs, and/or hum issues. I really needed to lose that STM-72, but didn't want to spring for a (likely pricey) separate phono stage. That led to my decision to try the 2M black MM cartridge. I figured Ortofon's top MM model may well outperform my 32 year old MC10. I wasn't disappointed...the 2M Black is at least as good as the old MC10, possibly better.

Having said all this, I still do entertain the idea from time to time of moving up to an MC again, with, say the McIntosh MP100 phono stage. By the time I'm done with all that I'll probably be on the hook for $3-4K. Sure I could buy a new TT for that much, but there would still be the phono stage issue.

To upgrade my C40 preamp would be quite a big deal in terms of cost and the complexity of reconfiguring my setup. The C40 has really served me well for about 23 years now...

[damacman]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Glenn.....it's interesting you should say that. When I bought the table in 1984, I purchased with it an Ortofon MC10 Moving coil cartridge. At the time, I was still using my Crown IC-150A preamp, which did not have an MC input. So, I bought along with it an STM-72 matching transformer (the MC10 and STM-72 actually came as a kit). I loved the cartridge, and in fact I used it for 32 years. (I moved up the McIntosh C40 preamp, but alas, it did not/does not have an MC input). I continued to use the STM-72 matching transformer right along, but after a time I started having problems with it-the main problem being the RCA jacks were too close together on the end of the cylindrical body, and so eventually I had signal drop outs, and/or hum issues. I really needed to lose that STM-72, but didn't want to spring for a (likely pricey) separate phono stage. That led to my decision to try the 2M black MM cartridge. I figured Ortofon's top MM model may well outperform my 32 year old MC10. I wasn't disappointed...the 2M Black is at least as good as the old MC10, possibly better.

Having said all this, I still do entertain the idea from time to time of moving up to an MC again, with, say the McIntosh MP100 phono stage. By the time I'm done with all that I'll probably be on the hook for $3-4K. Sure I could buy a new TT for that much, but there would still be the phono stage issue.

To upgrade my C40 preamp would be quite a big deal in terms of cost and the complexity of reconfiguring my setup. The C40 has really served me well for about 23 years now...

Oh I don't know the Ortofon black is pretty well liked. You could just enjoy it. If you did decide to upgrade, why not upgrade the tt and then move the Orty to the new table?

Case in point, I upgraded to a Dynavector DV10x5 on my Technics SL1300 Mk2 a few years ago (it was my main tt for 26 years sir) and just fell in love with that combo piped into the MM input of my C200. I bought an Avenger from Ivan a short time ago and moved the DV10x5 to it. I'm likely at the top of what I can expect from the DV10x5 (lol) but damn it sounds sweet! So, I've got two things to look forward to - a cartridge upgrade on the Avenger and putting the DV10x5 BACK on the SL1300 Mk2.

[Formerly YB-2]

Pete - the other alternative could be a medium or high output MC cartridge that would play thru your C40's MM phono input. There are a fair number to pick from. That said, I'm very pleased with my K&K SUT if you wish to go that route. I had a 2M Black for a few years and currently have an OM10 on the shelf for my Dual 701, once I get it back into the system. I'm a fan of the Ortofon house sound, MC & MM.

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Pete - the other alternative could be a medium or high output MC cartridge that would play thru your C40's MM phono input. There are a fair number to pick from. That said, I'm very pleased with my K&K SUT if you wish to go that route. I had a 2M Black for a few years and currently have an OM10 on the shelf for my Dual 701, once I get it back into the system. I'm a fan of the Ortofon house sound, MC & MM.

I am also a big fan of Ortofon. Sadly, the 2M White Mono SE cannot be used on the head shell of the my restored vintage Thorens TD147 Jubilee as it need to be an under-mount model "Verso". So I kept the like new 2M Black and the Mono SE. On the SME energy, comes with Ortofon's MC Windfeld. Very nice and the price though expensive (to me) won't break a bank.

[PHC1]

Came across a video from 10 years ago on the SME 20/2 with SME V and Dynavector XX2MKII cartridge that was in my system at the time. That table was a smooooth operator.

https://youtu.be/ABcy1ff163c

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Came across a video from 10 years ago on the SME 20/2 with SME V and Dynavector XX2MKII cartridge that was in my system at the time. That table was a smooooth operator.

https://youtu.be/ABcy1ff163c

What happened to it?

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

What happened to it?

Sold it to a friend as vinyl was not part of the theater/2 ch dedicated room buildout in the new house.

I did return to vinyl after a few years and played around with a few different tables but the SME remained the best setup for my taste.

I am no longer into vinyl and other physical media.

I don’t have any plans to return as streaming and high res downloads have completely taken over.

[greekgod]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Sold it to a friend as vinyl was not part of the theater/2 ch dedicated room buildout in the new house.

I did return to vinyl after a few years and played around with a few different tables but the SME remained the best setup for my taste.

I am no longer into vinyl and other physical media.

I don’t have any plans to return as streaming and high res downloads have completely taken over.

I've been trying to convince myself to give up my vinyl and just use high res. It would be a lot cheaper and save a ton of space. But there is just something magical about the sound of vinyl that I don't think I could ever give up.

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Sold it to a friend as vinyl was not part of the theater/2 ch dedicated room buildout in the new house.

I did return to vinyl after a few years and played around with a few different tables but the SME remained the best setup for my taste.

I am no longer into vinyl and other physical media.

I don’t have any plans to return as streaming and high res downloads have completely taken over.

Gosh Serge. If I had to break that cord I'd just get out of the hobby all together.