Cartridge Shortlist

I'm looking to replace my DV17 with something a little more suited to my system.

Deck is a Xerxes/Artemiz and I have a Dino + so the cartridge world is my oyster.

Much as I love the sound of the 17 it is a bit too tight in the bass, I had a DV20XL before that was more meaty and had a lovely full sounding bass end, although the top was a bit veiled at times. I found that although the 17 has tighter bass it's also a little set back in the mix which is not really for me, most of my music is heavily bass led and I need that thumping bass to underpin most of it. I also listen to lots of vocal and acoustic music too so it needs to offer good performace on that too. If I could get a cart with the 20's bass and the 17's mid and treble I'd be happy.

Anyway my shortlist is

DV20XL again
Lyra Dorian
AT33 PTG
Denon something or the other
Ortofon Kontrapunkt series
Shelter 501
and Benz Micro Ace

I have not heard any of them so any experiences would be really welcome. Also any online cheapies that are not on this list are of interest.

Thanks
J

 

I like the ACE very much. Very clean, very musical, very all-round and extremely good value. Other options for me would be Shelter and Ortofon.

 

Why not go for the Shiraz??? good match for the Artemiz/Xerxes

JC

 

The Denon is great if you don't want hi-fi and just music, it has it's faults, but for those who love it these faults are nothing. The Shelter is also loved, and if I was spending bigger money that's where I'd put it

 

I owned a Denon 103 years ago - don't know what happened to it, but I regretted that I no longer had it. So I bought another a month ago and am very happy with it (especially at the price).

Can't do meaningful comparisons with things like the Dynavector (heard a DV 17 or maybe a DV23 a couple of years back and wasn't much taken) - what I like about the 103 is that it seems so straightforward "here's the music and this is what it sounds like". One aspect which does surprise me is that it seems very competent at "sudden bangs" when they're happening in the music.

For the couple of years preceding I'd been using a Shelter 501 - which replaced a BPS because I could finally do the low-output MC thing again. The BPS struck me as a bit "edgy", not bright as such but a little wearisome. Again the 501 seems excellently well-balanced. That was when the Shelter was only available direct from Japan, and I don't know whether the cost/value ratio is different now that it has distribution (I think).

The Denon hasn't replaced the Shelter - my goal is to get to a two-arm solution so that I can play all my old Saturn disks without worrying that they'll wreck a pricey cartridge.

My gut feeling is that there are some bits of audio hardware that deserve to become timeless - it's happened with the Denon and possibly ought to with the Shelter. Some of the other items on the market strike me a "this year's packaging" - I'm not sure there are many other cartridges I'd lust after (in the context of hearing an original Koetsu when they were the great rave, and wondering what was supposed to be happening for that money).

Hope that heps.