Need New Cartridges

[aaron altar]

So it's time to update my carts. I've owned shure sc35c, stanton trackmaster II, and stanton groovemaster in the past (turntables were put away so I haven't bought new carts in 10 years). I mix trance, techno and house all on vinyl, mostly older vinyl, and I never use control vinyl (I have a controller for my digital needs). I rarely scratch (by rarely, I mean I can't remember the last time I did) and pretty much mix straight A->B. These are strictly for use in my house so they won't be used on a club system. Although they need to be able to track reasonable well for back queing, I'm more concerned with sound quality, more so the highs and mids than the low end, and track wear. Although my wife doesn't want me to spend anymore than I have to, I'm looking at value (read quality) more than price. I'll be using them with a set of Technics 1200 M3Ds if that makes a difference to anyone. I've narrowed it down to Ortofon s-120, Ortofon Nightclub MkII, Ortofon Elecktro, and Stanton Groovemaster V3. Although I haven't researched them I've also read about Shure white labels on this forum while researching my question. So my question to you, and I'll post a poll for those that love polls, is which would you buy and why? Which have you used and what did you like/not like about them? And which is the best value for the money? Thanks in advance for your time and consideration.

[thehadgi]

I'm not going to vote because my skill lies in production, and not DJ equipment for about 3 years now lol. But I did get the white labels for my decks which i still have after djf'rs recommended them, and I think they are great. Course I never scratched, so apart from pitch adjusting for the span of about 6 months they played records just fine

[myndgruv]

m44-7s. High output, low wear on records. Take tons of abuse. I have used them since 2001 almost exclusively

[aaron altar]

Anyone else have an opinion on needles around here? Bueller? Bueller?

[DTR]

As sound quality is your priority and you don't scratch then there's no reason to confine yourself to DJ carts. Many cheap hifi carts will track fine for straight mixing and sound great. Personally I use Audio Technica AT95Es (http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/983ae543f8dbeaf5/index.html) :)

[Finnish_Fox]

I use white labels. Tracks well, pretty good sound reproduction, doesn't need a load of tracking force.

Other than that I'd do night clubs.

[aaron altar]

As sound quality is your priority and you don't scratch then there's no reason to confine yourself to DJ carts. Many cheap hifi carts will track fine for straight mixing and sound great. Personally I use Audio Technica AT95Es (http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/983ae543f8dbeaf5/index.html) :)

Looks like a good needle at a great price but doesn't the elliptical stylus cause more record wear? How does it handle back cueing?

[Finnish_Fox]

Courtesy of DTR from another thread:


No. In a sense elliptical styli do wear the groove more than spherical, but the wear is spread a lot more evenly over the groove's surface. Spherical styli concentrate the wear in one area (which consequently experiences heavier but localised wear).

The response will be fine. If the elliptical styli will read music better than a spherical, the same will be true of the control tone.

[l0ckd0wn]

^^ What Fin said. I use 44-7s right now (although I haven't had my tables out in like 2 years...) and decided on getting Whitelabels when I replace my current styli. The Ortofons are nice and have great sound reproduction, but I find are generally over priced comparably. I've used the Concords (blue) & Night Clubs (black & yellow).

[aaron altar]

Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions. +rep to all.

I ended up getting the whitelabels. The sound on the stanton groovemaster was better but for the price I much preferred the the ortofon nightclubs (didn't get a chance to hear the s-120). Then I listened to the elecktro and the whitelabels and I really couldn't hear a difference between the two. I got a pair of whitelabels for $140 so I just couldn't justify the extra coin for the ortofons. I hate the m44-7s sound reproduction so those were a no-go from the start. And lastly since I may scratch again at some point in the future I didn't want to go with an audiophile stylus. So far, I like the whitelabels and they are a great value for anybody looking for new carts (they're also pretty sexy). Thanks guys.

[Paulie65m]

I have the white labels I liked them but always wanna try new needlez .. 140 for a pair is great price .. I paid 120 just for one :banghead:

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[LJay]

Good choice with the Whitelabels. Allthough it's pretty much identical in sound quality to Shure M35X which are a little cheaper, but require to be mounted to a headshell. Anyways Shure replacement styluses are generally cheaper than Ortofons, so you made a great choice.

[DTR]

^^^ I agree with this. They share the same stylus, although the Whitelabel has the internals of a V15 hifi cart. We still have a M35X mounted on our PD-45 :)

[Nicadraus]

Shure M44-7. The best all-arounder. :tup:

[Ampcast]

Where the F did you get a pair of whitelabels for $140? They still go for £100 each over here!

[aaron altar]

Where the F did you get a pair of whitelabels for $140? They still go for £100 each over here!

Sonic Fiber out of New York. They have a bunch of stuff on ebay.

[Finnish_Fox]

Nice work. Got mine for like $160 from Amazon.