I'm looking for a good value phono cartridge for about less than $100 (US). Let me know what you may have read or experienced. I've read that the Grado Prestige series are acclaimed as the finest at their price.

Right now I'm using the Stanton 520 SK that came with my STR8-80. It's designed as a DJ cartridge, so I know it may not be the best for audiophile purposes.

Yes, Grado makes some excellent cartridges for the price!
The Black & Green versions are not too expensive (+/- 40 euro here in holland) and deliver great quality.. Even for electronic music these cartridges perform very well, the owner of www.rikstoet.nl informed me about this.. I trust his judgement, considering they have cartridges up to and over 1000 euro (holy jebus!)

I also vote for Grado's Black and Green. They are very well priced and deliver excellent quality. If you have slightly more money then the Red and Blue models might be worth a look.

I've heard (as in read that) that the Stanton 680 & 890 models are exceptionally good budget 'audiophile' models.

The 680 retails at £60 GBP, the 890 RM £110 GBP (both conical styli), so I'd guess a similar figure in $US. You can get a elliptical version of the 890, but it's more expensive - £180 GBP.

All were extremely well recieved in 'HiFi World' (UK monthly) a few issues back, in both listening and measured performance, the tracking of the 890 elliptical was as good as anything they'd *ever* tested.

ciao,
R.

Edit - these are marketed as 'professional' or DJ's cartridges, but the 890 in particular seems to be just a generally good one. Interestingly Stanton use an exceptionally low VTA (vertical tracking angle) of 18 degrees ( most cartridges are steeper 24 - 30 degrees, mainly to allow enough physical clearance of the cart. body to disc surface)) - very close to actual lathe cutter-head angle.

The Ortofon "Super OM" line are good performers in both sound and tracking capabilities, and you can start with the cheapest (Super OM-10, street price around $70) and upgrade later on by just changing the stylus.

http://www.ortofon.com/html/body_magnetic_...?varenr=0131131

The cheap Grados are OK, although the sound is characterized by a certain "tizz" - there is a sharp HF resonance peak at around 15 kHz. Other than that they're great, especially for the price.

Just be aware that they're unshielded. If your turntable's motor is also unshielded you *will* get hum problems with a Grado.

But actually, I would shy away from an elliptical stylus if I were you. The Stanton STR8-80 is made exclusively for scratching, hence the idiotic *straight* tonearm. You'll find it almost impossible to get correct alignment using Baerwald or similar (normal) geometry, so to minimise the damage just get a cart with a spherical stylus.

(so it's really the Stanton TT that's not good for audiophile purposes)

I have a Grado cartridge that came with my new turntable. How do I tell what it is? it doesn't say anything other than Grado.

Does it look like this?

http://www.gradolabs.com/product_images/pr...e_ctrg_slvr.gif

If it's a current model, then just check what colour the dots are on the stylus assembly. The old models used a body that looked the same, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know how to ID those.

Can you recommend a good cartridge with a spherical stylus?

[quote=prism_emf,Sep 23 2004, 03:34 AM]
[quote=CSMR,Sep 23 2004, 09:10 AM]I have a Grado cartridge that came with my new turntable. How do I tell what it is? it doesn't say anything other than Grado.

[/quote]
Not quite. Instead of the G there's a backward's C and a G, like this:

-- --
/ || \
||
|| ---
\ || /
-- --

It's probably an average one.
Can't get that to come out right; need to quote me to see.

A very *very* good cartridge would be the Denon DL-103, but that's a low output MC (I assume you don't have the amp capabilities for that) and a bit over your budget at ~135EUR.

An Audio-Technica AT300P should suit the bill perfectly if you can find one, it's cheap as well. The P is for P-mount, but it's actually universal so no problems there. A Goldring Elan is basic but in this case would probably do ok.

Then you have the various DJ cartridges, of course.

To be honest with you, I don't know how much improvement you'll get with a better cartridge -- some at least, but the truth is that your turntable just isn't made for listening use. Before you jump on a new cartridge, try to align your present one as close to "correct" as possible - not straight. Use a protractor, there's a general purpose one printable from

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/freestuff.htm

You'll have to twist the cart in the headshell to get it even remotely aligned. Do this first, as this *will* improve the sound. If you need help with the alignment, there are lots of helpful links at the Asylum:

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/d.pl?audio/faq.html#vinyl