Nagaoka Cartridge
Tue, Oct 25 2011, 6:36PM
Recently upgraded my TT to a Radius 5.2/Nima combination, and installed my year old Denon DL110. I'm not unhappy with the sound in fact I think its pretty good (perhaps a bit thin at times though), but curiosity gets the better of me and I think what would another cartridge sound like (has to be MM) - based on reviews I reckon a goldring 2400 would be ideal, but a little expensive at the moment. There are a few older style Nagaokas (Mp11's MP30's etc) I could bid on but wonder are they likley to be any good and worth a punt for say £80ish or am I best to wait until I can afford a new Goldring (or another - suggestions from other 5.2/Nima users most welcome).
I'm not familiar with the Nima, though gather it is a unipivot. So just general observations, including that the Goldring 2000 range is made by Nagaoka. There are several fans of the earlier Goldring 1000 series here, especially the top 1024 model. The original Nags have a good following in the USA, where the Grado range is made - with a model at any price point. The brighter Ortofon 2M range is newer and well reviewed. Buying cartridges via an auction site is not for the faint-hearted!
There are some suggestions here:-
http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/roksan-radius-nima
Lastly, I believe there is a Roksan Corus Silver MM cartridge:-
http://www.roksan.co.uk/roksan/roksanpage.php?pageno=18
and though it seems to be relatively costly at around £400, it does have a very advanced stylus type.
Hi-Fi: Krell KAV-300cd, Michell TecnoDec/RB250/Grado Prestige Black1, KAV-300i amp, Transparent balanced interconnects and bi-wire to Sonus faber Concerto grand piano speakers, Nakamichi ZX-7 cassette deck, Logitech Squeezebox Touch, Hitachi FT-5500 and Sony S570ES tuners, BCD Engineering stand, RA Powerlink, Chord powerchord, Grado SR60i cans.
AV: Sony Bravia KDL-32EX503 telly, BDP-S370 player with QED HDMI. Currently unused: Denon AVR-1705, DVD-1710, KEF KHT1005.2