"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...

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

It's worth noting that both the Grado and the AT110E are heavy enough
to need the alternate counterweight for the Debut III, which you can
get for twelve quid or so from Pro-Ject's UK importer. (Or you can do
the maths to work out how much extra mass to add to the existing
counterweight!) The 510mkII's light enough to work with the standard
one.

That Coolsville track is nice -- off "Strange Angels"?

--
Adam Sampson http://offog.org/