Stalking The Wild Moving Magnent

[thebes]

It was 1970. I was in effect "girding my loins" as I prepared to go forth in search of that most elusive of prey, a stellar sounding reasonably priced moving magnet cartridge.

I'd need clear eyes and a clear head so I tied my shoulder-length silken lanks into a queue, and reluctantly left the rolling machine, papers and "Uncle Minty's Finest Home-grown" in it's Perogi cigar box. I slid into a sturdy pair of bell-bottoms, a tie-died shirt, and put an extra cinch in the laces of my Earth Shoes. Into my army surplus backpack I deposited a dog-eared copy of the Whole Earth Catalogue, some granola bars, a mostly full bottle of Boons Farm Apple wine, a mouth harp and my extra lucky Mood Ring. Tucked into the ankle of my sock was a roll of dog-eared dollar bills amounting to $37.

My companion for this foray was the "Dap Man'. I had pondered long and hard over who to select as a boon companion for this safari into the unexplored trackless wasteland of the Audio Continent. I had chosen Dap because I noticed late at night, when the candles were guttering in the Mateuse bottles, the Dap was known to perch a chair near the turntable and spend hour after hour carefully observing it's circular motion. I was sure he was employing his understanding of the ancient asiatic philosophy's association with the tantra of the the circle and knew he was near the psychic breakthrough that would bear fruit at the key stages of our search.

We met on the street and as he approached I saluted him with the peace-sign to which he replied with his patented 47 move dap. I made it through about first 13 steps before losing the rhythm but he carried on regardless paying it no never mind. "It's cool, brother" he said. Gotta hand it to him, outside of returning 'Nam vets he could dap better then anbody I'd ever seen.

We'd only gone a half a block when a friend stuck his head out the door of his pad and said:

"Man, have you heard!. It's like, like, Timothy, like Leery. He's like here man! He's like at the coffee house, like tonight, and like he's speaking and everything. We gotta go and like explore the universe man. It this trippy or what?"

In the face of this startling news our expedition was abandoned and never resumed . To this day my goal remains unmet. But still from time-to-time I think of the Dap Man and wonder what revelation he might have imparted as we stalked the wild moving magnet.

****************************

I've lost track of the Dap Man but I'm hoping I've got soemthing better and that's you guys.

I want a new, not used moving magnet cart not, repeat not, moving coil. My gear won't handle a MC and I don't want to buy a step-up. This will be used in one of my two systems on a stock Rega P3 with RB 300 tone arm. Price range, no more than $300 and I'd like to do it for less. I'm using a Rega Basic (bottom of their line) cart and this table really could use something better. I also don't like the fact that your can't replace the stylus on the Rega cart line.

So come with me borthers. Let's head into the bush and see what we can find. but be careful, it's a jungle out there.

Fini, fini! Get out of that brush there's a tiger in there! Oh my god, oh my god....

[philtubes]

Great story. You might want to try a Denon 110 or 160 high output moving coil cart., it will work with a MM stage with no problem. The other choice are the grados, they are good but the tracking issues are a negative, the AT 440 MLA is nice, a great tracker but is a little on the thin side. The Denons are big sounding with excellent dynamics and are under $200.00. Good luck.

Phill

[ZAKO]

SHURE 97 for under a hundred bucks. Some times going for $65. A great trakker.

[pauln]

Thebes, I just saw the Zig Zag Man at Sam's Club, he had a tattoo of YOU on his arm!

[tom b. 57]

Another well written story , an adventure, if you will. Ah, the days of our youth. This story reminds me of the hazy,yet intriguing 70's. The time of experimentation, the tail end of the free love movement, and some wonderful Empire and Stanton MM cartridges if I remember correctly. Of course now, I did mention a bit of a haze. I too am considering a quest for a good MM cartridge for a reasonable price (hopefully under $200.00). So, I will be watching this thread closely.

Thebes, it is always an enjoyable event reading your posts.

Tom

[fini]

What a moving story, from a magnetic personality! As an aside, I've built houses where in DAP 230 was a structural element, dear Watson. Sorry to wag my caulk. You might consider a HIGH OUTPUT MC cart, my good man. I'm currently using a decent Ortofon MC-X5, but I have a Denon 103 in the lurches. Got an Altec 4722-based step-up in my eternally-long DIY queueuequeueue, too.

[thebes]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm pretty sure I read here somewhere that the Denon's are not the best match for the Rega arm and I thought even a high output MC can sometimes be a problem depending upon the equipment mix.

I also have a Shure V15 but the replacement stylus was not original and I think I could do better than the 97. In other words I want to climb the ladder but not too high up the ladder.

So that leaves me thinking a MM that will match well with the Rega which I seem to recall is a medium mass arm. This is one area in which I do not want to go through a lot of expenditures just to get a good match.

Oh and Paul. Yes the Zig Zag man does have a tattoo of me on his arm. It all started out in Paris in 1971, we we're strolling down the Left Bank.....[]