Hello!

I am to choose a cartridge for my new Rega Planar Mk 3. But it must be
something very special. My beloved repertoire is opera arias and
small (mainly male) choirs singing acapella. No rock, no jazz combo,
not even symphonic orchestra.

I don't care about the bass and extreme highs. But I do want perfect
vocal reproduction. I wanna hear Maria Callas right in my room, solid,
tangible and three-dimensional. If any deviation from neutrality is
allowed (well, my budget is about USD 500) it's only toward the warm,
sweet, romantic reproduction. And of course the holographic images and
pinpoint detail but with all the subtleties rather than the
laser-sharpness. Can be MM or MC. I need something like midrange taken from
say, Dynavector Te Kaitora put in a poor man's cartridge.

Which one do you suggest?

BTW. If I could afford something more expensive, what maximum price or
just what models are sensible with this turntable ?

TIA

"Julian Vereker" wrote in message
om
Hello!

I am to choose a cartridge for my new Rega Planar Mk 3. But it must be
something very special. My beloved repertoire is opera arias and
small (mainly male) choirs singing acapella. No rock, no jazz combo,
not even symphonic orchestra.

I don't care about the bass and extreme highs. But I do want perfect
vocal reproduction. I wanna hear Maria Callas right in my room, solid,
tangible and three-dimensional. If any deviation from neutrality is
allowed (well, my budget is about USD 500) it's only toward the warm,
sweet, romantic reproduction. And of course the holographic images and
pinpoint detail but with all the subtleties rather than the
laser-sharpness. Can be MM or MC. I need something like midrange
taken from say, Dynavector Te Kaitora put in a poor man's cartridge.

Which one do you suggest?

Get the latest-greatest Shure V-15, a test record and a voltmeter that
measures audio frequencies with at least modest accuracy, and adjust load
capacitance for flattest response.

In article ,
(Julian Vereker) wrote:

Hello!

I am to choose a cartridge for my new Rega Planar Mk 3. But it must be
something very special. My beloved repertoire is opera arias and
small (mainly male) choirs singing acapella. No rock, no jazz combo,
not even symphonic orchestra.

I don't care about the bass and extreme highs. But I do want perfect
vocal reproduction. I wanna hear Maria Callas right in my room, solid,
tangible and three-dimensional. If any deviation from neutrality is
allowed (well, my budget is about USD 500) it's only toward the warm,
sweet, romantic reproduction. And of course the holographic images and
pinpoint detail but with all the subtleties rather than the
laser-sharpness. Can be MM or MC. I need something like midrange taken from
say, Dynavector Te Kaitora put in a poor man's cartridge.

Which one do you suggest?

BTW. If I could afford something more expensive, what maximum price or
just what models are sensible with this turntable ?

Grado Reference Sonata.

Stephen

"MiNE 109" wrote in message

In article ,
(Julian Vereker) wrote:

Hello!

I am to choose a cartridge for my new Rega Planar Mk 3. But it must
be something very special. My beloved repertoire is opera arias and
small (mainly male) choirs singing acapella. No rock, no jazz combo,
not even symphonic orchestra.

I don't care about the bass and extreme highs. But I do want perfect
vocal reproduction. I wanna hear Maria Callas right in my room,
solid, tangible and three-dimensional. If any deviation from
neutrality is allowed (well, my budget is about USD 500) it's only
toward the warm, sweet, romantic reproduction. And of course the
holographic images and pinpoint detail but with all the subtleties
rather than the laser-sharpness. Can be MM or MC. I need something
like midrange taken from say, Dynavector Te Kaitora put in a poor
man's cartridge.

Which one do you suggest?

BTW. If I could afford something more expensive, what maximum price
or just what models are sensible with this turntable ?

Grado Reference Sonata.

FWIW, agreed based on its pedigree.

Something from the top or near the of the Grado pile is always a good
alternative to the Shure V-15. Both track well, the Grado is less
susceptible to electrical loading and the Shure is less susceptible to tone
arm dynamics.

"Julian Vereker" wrote in message
om...
Hello!

I am to choose a cartridge for my new Rega Planar Mk 3. But it must be
something very special. My beloved repertoire is opera arias and
small (mainly male) choirs singing acapella. No rock, no jazz combo,
not even symphonic orchestra.

I don't care about the bass and extreme highs. But I do want perfect
vocal reproduction. I wanna hear Maria Callas right in my room, solid,
tangible and three-dimensional. If any deviation from neutrality is
allowed (well, my budget is about USD 500) it's only toward the warm,
sweet, romantic reproduction. And of course the holographic images and
pinpoint detail but with all the subtleties rather than the
laser-sharpness. Can be MM or MC. I need something like midrange taken
from
say, Dynavector Te Kaitora put in a poor man's cartridge.

Which one do you suggest?

I'm not a connoisseur of opera, but with regard to voice you want mainly a
smooth, accurate low-to-high midrange. For that you probably don't need the
most expensive MC cartridges. I think I'd buy the best Grado MM I could
afford. They are less finicky than MC cartridges and have higher output in
general so you also get background noise usually and don't need special
phono sections or step up transformers.

jeffc wrote:


"Julian Vereker" wrote in message
. com...
Hello!

I am to choose a cartridge for my new Rega Planar Mk 3. But it must be
something very special. My beloved repertoire is opera arias and
small (mainly male) choirs singing acapella. No rock, no jazz combo,
not even symphonic orchestra.

I don't care about the bass and extreme highs. But I do want perfect
vocal reproduction. I wanna hear Maria Callas right in my room, solid,
tangible and three-dimensional. If any deviation from neutrality is
allowed (well, my budget is about USD 500) it's only toward the warm,
sweet, romantic reproduction. And of course the holographic images and
pinpoint detail but with all the subtleties rather than the
laser-sharpness. Can be MM or MC. I need something like midrange taken
from
say, Dynavector Te Kaitora put in a poor man's cartridge.

Which one do you suggest?

I'm not a connoisseur of opera, but with regard to voice you want mainly a
smooth, accurate low-to-high midrange. For that you probably don't need the
most expensive MC cartridges. I think I'd buy the best Grado MM I could
afford. They are less finicky than MC cartridges and have higher output in
general so you also get background noise usually and don't need special
phono sections or step up transformers.










Agreed. Get a Grado Reference Platinum, Sonata or Master - depending on your
budget. These wood-bodied cartridges track well, are extremely musical and do
an excellent job reproducing voices. They also have relatively high outputs,
making them a good fit for most preamplifier, integrated amplifier, and
receiver phono stages.



Bruce J. Richman

One thing to consider- as wonderful as the Grados are, any owner of a Rega has
to be able to cope the inevitable hum that will be present at the eand of each
LP side. In my opinion, it's almost always worth putting up with that touch of
hum

"CCSman" wrote in message
...
One thing to consider- as wonderful as the Grados are, any owner of a Rega
has
to be able to cope the inevitable hum that will be present at the eand of
each
LP side. In my opinion, it's almost always worth putting up with that
touch of
hum

I forgot about that. There was just a thread recently where someone had
this combo, and said they had heard about this problem but didn't have any
problem with it themselves.

"jeffc" wrote in message
...

"CCSman" wrote in message
...
One thing to consider- as wonderful as the Grados are, any owner of a
Rega
has
to be able to cope the inevitable hum that will be present at the eand
of
each
LP side. In my opinion, it's almost always worth putting up with that
touch of
hum

I forgot about that. There was just a thread recently where someone had
this combo, and said they had heard about this problem but didn't have any
problem with it themselves.

Do the current crop of Grados still perform the "dance"? If yes, how
does/did it effect their performance in other respects?