"Adam Sampson" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" writes:
They sure are - *borrow* a cartridge??? There's a pretty notion
I'm sure that like me you've got a couple of cartridges sitting around
as "spares" -- it's not entirely implausible that he might know
someone who's got a Prestige Black sitting unused. I've got one, for
example... 
I've got well over a dozen carts kicking about here and might well be
tempted to flog some of 'em off cheap, but I ain't so sure about *lending*
them to a total stranger...??
(Different story with people I know of course, but even then I'd baulk at
letting an expensive MC out of my sight - I don't need any help ****ing
those up, I can do that perfectly well all on my own.....!! ;-)
If you really want to be lead by the nose and other people's
opinions will do it for you, then I would suggest you *borrow* the
AT110E as well as the 510/II - I have both here and, at half the
price (should you ever get round to paying for one), the AT is a
better cart (IMO) than the Orto, which I find a bit 'shouty'....
I've got an AT110E too, as it happens. It's a decent enough cartridge
(particularly for the money), but it's got noticably less HF response
than the 510mkII -- which presumably is why the latter sounds shouty
to you, and the AT110E sounds a bit muffled to my CD-attuned
ears. I did a similar comparison back when I last tried the AT110E; I
assume you'll probably like the AT's sound better here too?
http://offog.org/stuff/rocky-mountain-way-510mkii.mp3
http://offog.org/stuff/rocky-mountain-way-at110e.mp3
OK, this is interesting (nice to see a bit of Show N Tell coming back to
me)....
I bummed them to a CDRW (it says 'Bum' in my copy of Nero...) and ran them
through two quite different pairs of speakers on the same SS kit and made my
own decision:
I can see that most/many would go for the 510, due to its comparative 'up
front' qualities and incisive treble (cymbals), but my choice was for the
110E which I think offers a better overall balance with better placement of
the vocal and good 'air'. Then in comes Swim (my resident *ears*) who
listened and declared her choice to be the second track (110E) also with the
following remarks:
Track 1 (510/II) - 'Clearer but harsher, edgy and jaggy...'
Track 2 (110E) - 'Mellow, more musical, easier to listen to, rounder
sound...'
(There were some minor issues with a little distortion on the RH channel,
unless it's in the recording and a little hum present, but they are/were not
of any importance in the overall presentation - happens with all 'posted'
tracks, including mine, I find!! :-)
You pays yer money, you takes yer choice - my point, when it comes to budget
carts, is that the amount of money they cost is no real indicator of
suitability, only that (mostly) a costlier cart/needle might be expected to
track a bit better. FWIW, I don't think there's a bad cart out there these
days and when I first posted my cartridge comparisons a while back, one or
two people actually picked out the AT95E - which is even less money than the
110E!!
In my first reply, my tip to the OP was not to ditch his original cart
(OM5E?) - I think my samples show it to be quite pleasant and actually,
listening to it again right now, I would say that it is very well balanced
with good detail and a nice, full bass for them as like a lot of bass...??
That Coolsville track is nice -- off "Strange Angels"?
Yes it is.
Ortofon project k4
Linear Mode
