Calling all VinylHeads

pblanc

Please help with your experience and advice. I don't have a huge LP collection but I have a few hundred or so and I have found myself listening to them again since getting a pair of LSi15s. I'm thinking about transfering them to a hard drive "for posterity". I have a decent Dual turntable with a Shure V15 TypeV MR cartridge which some feel is the best moving magnet cartridge ever (but no longer) made. I'm thinking about trying a high output moving coil cartridge. I'm not planning on investing thousands of dollars on a pickup, thousands more on a top end turntable and then buying a phono preamp to boost a low output MC cartridge to boot, but might be persuaded to invest a few hundred if I felt the sound would be better than my Shure MM cartridge and if I could use it with my existing turntable. Do any of you feel that a MC cartridge in that price range would definitely be superior to what I currently have? If so can you make a recommendation for a "budget" MC cartridge? And how do I know if my turntable tone arm will be compatible with the cartridge's height?

billbillw

You'd probably have to spend more than $500 to get better sound than the V-15VMR. That's why they still sell on Ebay for so much. When they were still in production, they were a steal at $225 or whatever they went for.
The cart you have is probably one of the better ones for archiving vinyl because it tracks so well, and the MR stylus can pull from deeper areas of the groove.

pblanc

Thanks for the good advice.