maxg Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 I have written on this site about how unimpressed I am with my new cartridge - the Clearaudio Virtuoso. Having changed my amps I feel that this is worth re-visiting. It seems that my previous setup was effectively masking the strengths of this cartridge as the inadequate amplification coupled with running with MM gain didnt provide enough oomph to drive the speakers properly. (I should explain that my previous cartridge was the Blue Point special, an MC cartridge with high output that I ran with MC gain, thereby alleviating the problems on the amps to some extent) Now, with greater watts available to me (in combination with the relatively huge amp power supply) I am hearing things I never did before. This cartridge does indeed play everything I have now, as opposed to merely playing classical well, or rather, sweetly. IMHO this is a far better cartridge all round than the BPS, although the BPS is still THE rock cartridge to my ears. Whether it is as good as the reviews would have us believe is open to debate, but I would not be uncomfortable seeing it up against any MC cartridge of similar price. My only remaining complaint on the cartridge which has not changed - it seems very sensitive to poor vinyl, or good vinyl in poor condition. This means that there is excessive surface noise on many of the records I now listen to, and even those that appeared to be perfect to me previously now show some noise. Whether I will in turn get used to this too I dont know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 Max, glad you are enjoying your toys. I cannot comment on Clearaudio cartridges, but if you ever stumble over an Ortofon Rohmann, don't miss it. Until recently I only new it in combination with a Linn phonopreamp (Linto?). It played okay, but never really moved me. Enter either Lehmann Silver Cube or Holfi Battriaa (my own) and bingo(!), suddenly you entered the realm of emotion (means what was 'merely' technical before - no mean feast, by the way) turned into the reproduction of vinyl for soul and heart. I know that both of the above mentioned phonopreamps aren't cheap, but perhaps the Lehmann Black Cube might be a similar match. Oh, and I am in the process of getting myself a used Rohmann from a reliable seller - sounds like more vinyl fun is coming up . Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted October 3, 2003 Author Share Posted October 3, 2003 Wolfram - sounds like fun. I hear where you are coming from with regard to the phono stages. I went through a number of them before I settled on my own choice (the Acoustic Signature Tango). As for carts I am in the same boat as you. Never heard the ones you are talking about so cant comment. Basically i have been working on the basis that my next cart will be the Shelter 501, or even the 901 but for now this clearaudio is more than sufficient. Good to hear from you again anyway. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 Max, what a coincidence: just recently I listened to the bigger of those Shelters (unfortunately not in combination with Klipsch speakers). It sounded quite good (read: transparent and musical), but of course unless one can listen at home (or at least with familiar gear) a true judgement is tricky. I took my vinyl copy of 'Kind of Blue' along and it sounded different (no horn speakers) but nice. Still, sometime second hand gear mighth be as good but also less costly. So before upgrading don't overlook the Rohmann (with those qualifications mentioned above). Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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