Cartridge suggestions for Linn Basik/Akito

[COGge]

Another cartridge to consider is the goldring line. They are a very
musical cartridge, with a long history of building good budget moving
magnets. If you get into their 1000 series of cartridges, you can even
get a line contact stylus .... which is very suprising for the price.
I imagind tha the Akito is a lower mass arm, and most of the moving
coils prefer a medium to high mass arm because of their compliance
range. That being said, the new Dynavector may work well in your rig.
But listen to the goldring, I installed a 1042 and have been very
impressed.

Mister Pig

On 16 Oct 1999 14:58:57 GMT, Predrag Kovacevic <pkova...@sprint.ca>
wrote:

>Recently I purchased a seven year old Linn Basik turntable with an
>Akito tonearm and K5 cartridge. I also have a Cyrus II amplifier
>(without the PSX) and Paradigm S60 speakers.

>I would like to upgrade the cartridge and my current options are:

>Grado Gold,
>Benz-Micro MC 20E 2

>or a little bit more expensive:
>Grado Platinum,
>Benz-Micro Silver,
>Benz-Micro Gold,
>Linn K9

>It doesn't make sense to me to spend more money on a cartridge with
>this turntable and arm combination.

>I read in a few places that MC cartridges do not work well with the
>Akito arm (why?). On top of that, I have no idea how good is the
>Cyrus MC phono stage.

>Any comments (or other suggestions in this price range) will be
>welcome.

>Thanks,

>Predrag

[Eric Lawton]

I also have this combination - Linn Basik turnatable and Akito
tonearm.

When I purchased this combination about six years ago I auditioned it
with a Linn K9 for a weekend. I remember the K9 as being very nice -
sharp and detailed - it sounded especially good with pop and rock
music. I have also used an inexpensive Grado cartridge in this
set-up (I don't remember the model number). The Grado cartridge was
smooth and natural sounding - but it left me wanting more detail and
better tracking. Also, it hummed a bit (due to an unsheilded motor
on the turntable I think) - but in my set-up you wouldn't know it
unless you went looking for it.

Now I use a Shure V15 type V MR purchased about a year ago. I really
like this cartridge. It sounds smooth (but not soft) and detailed
and tracks great. Hard for me to compare it to the K9 - its been so
long - and my speakers and electronics have all changed. My wife
thought I was "wasting my money" and that I was "being stupid" when I
spent close to $250 for the Shure cartridge. She changed her tune
when she heard it. It definately exceeded both our expectations. I
was also considering the K9 (and I probably would be very happy with
it) but it was a bit more money at the time and I liked the idea of
the dynamic stabilizer brush on the Shure - it seems to help keep the
stylus in the groove when my kids start dancing.

Watch out for hum with the Grado cartridges - I don't know if the new
designs eliminate this. Check it out before purchasing if you can.

Hope these comments help.

Eric

Predrag Kovacevic <pkova...@sprint.ca> wrote in article
<7ua3rh$h...@news01.aud.alcatel.com>...

[Palucey]

I use the Akito (which IS a medium mass arm) on the Axis with the
Sumiko Blue Point and find it a good overall combination - fast,
dynamic and quiet. High output moving coils like the Ortophon X-3,
X-5 or the Benz Micro Glider HO should do very well with the Akito.
I agree that the higher level Grados should also be fine. Good
listening.