Originally posted by sideshowbob Chris, it's not an upgrade. Item A is being sold to upgrade Item B. No additional money involved, so that's allowed. The Hadcock will really sing with a much better cartridge I'm sure. I'm thinking Kontrapunkt B, which your favourite dealer has on special offer ATM.
Thought you were getting rid of the hadcock?
The kontrapunkt B while great (better than mine you git!! hehehe) is a 10gram cart, and might not be the best bet for a hadcock -
Have you thought about getting a music maker II? you could use it straight into the MM stage of your ear, which is the nicer sounding imput IMHO... or are u changing the EAR too?
My personal road to mecca TT wise is an orbe platter (such as your own) followed by a SME 309, or better if I can afford.
I think that'll be a much better match personally for a heavy cart like my Kontrapunkt A
Or even the Rega that you already have I think would be ok with it, especially I would imagine if the weight of the arm is dropped as with the new Rega counterweight by Michell - quite nifty, and only £70ish. Have you seen this? it hangs below the arm therefore dropping the centre of gravity. I should imagine this would work well with a heavier cart. I saw it in the audiophile candy catalogue they post me. Im sure its on their website too. http://www.audiophilecandy.com/home.asp
If I sell most of my hifi collection & a big chunk of my record cd collection, I maybe able to buy that studio.
Nice piece of musical history. A studio based in my home town. Well based in a different country but in town with the same name of my city. So it must be good.
Maybe if we all sold our hifi & record & cds we could go for part ownership. Just a thought.
Ian,
I would have a look at the Music Maker cartridge. The Ortofons are excellent but there may be a weight problem. The counterweight on the Haddock may not be heavy enough. But it is still worth looking into.
I would try & get a home dem on any expensive cartridge. but this is not always possible. The Koetsu is another fine sounding cartridge but there maybe the weight problem again.
Music Maker is tempting, but now I've found a legit source for new Kontrapunkt B's at less than £400, and Rohmanns for around £500, so these are even more tempting. Not possible to try them first, however.
I've checked, and 10gm (Kontrapunkt mass) is at the mid-point for recommended cart weights for the arm, so it will balance OK. Kontras recommended tracking is about half a gram higher than I'm currently at (2.5gm rather than 2gm) which helps as well. (The Hadcock has two counterweights, large and small, and both can be used if necessary.)
I've followed the instructions on the Bizarre tonearm maths thread on the old PFM and get a resonance of 11.5Hz with the Kontra, bang in the middle of the recommended 7-15Hz.
Still haven't made a decision, and won't until the Meridian's sold. I'm in no rush.
Where is the source for those cheap Ortofon cartridges?
Here is another calculator for arm/cartridge resonances. You do have to bear in mind the weight of the bolts & nuts plus the weight of the cartridge tags as well.