blakey72 Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Hi all. Need a cart for my P3 and was thinking the Blackie. Any other suggestions for around or under $1k (MM only at this stage). I need something warmish to neutral with high output - 4.5mV+. Arm is standard P3 flavour (RB330). Phono pre will be a Leben RS-30EQ for the time being. Amp - Plinius 9200, Speakers Harbeth SHL5P XD. Thoughts? Cheers blakey72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKay Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 (edited) The Black is not warm it is very detailed, neutral and dynamic. I found my Stanton 881s much warmer but a pain to set and difficult to find a good one these days. The Nagaoka could be worth a look. There is an Australian dealer. Edited July 27, 2021 by PKay 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakey72 Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 1 minute ago, PKay said: The Black is not warm it is very detailed, neutral and dynamic. I found my Stanton 881s much warmer but a pain to set and difficult to find a good one these days. Yeah Neutral is ok for me, difficult to set up might be a deal breaker. I'm new to setting up carts (well done about 5). I'm thinking the Black would sound something like my old AT150MLX. Need a new Stylus for it, impossible to get Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKay Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Just now, blakey72 said: Yeah Neutral is ok for me, difficult to set up might be a deal breaker. I'm new to setting up carts (well done about 5). I'm thinking the Black would sound something like my old AT150MLX. Need a new Stylus for it, impossible to get Give @cafe lattea call he may be able to retip it for you. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakey72 Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 1 minute ago, PKay said: Give @cafe lattea call he may be able to retip it for you. Nah already worked a few things out with him. I think the suspension was dead or something. He 'grafted' it (cantilever and tip) onto a Grado Blue which broke the other night, caught a cleaning cloth on it somehow. That one will likely get fixed when I get around to it but it's going on another deck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Dynavector 10x5 , HOMC plugs into a mm socket, I had one on a older Rega planar 3 worked well and imho a much more fun sound than the 2m black I tried prior. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwbasement Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 2m black would be nice with the rega and leben. I used to have rp6 with 2m black and leben, sounds very nice, keep 8n mind that leben is on the warm side, I also have the mp500 which doesn't sound as nice with the black imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwbasement Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Dyna also match well with leben if you want a different brand apart from ortofon. However imo ortofon carts sound really nice with rega. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkaramazov Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 9 hours ago, blakey72 said: Yeah Neutral is ok for me, difficult to set up might be a deal breaker. I'm new to setting up carts (well done about 5). I'm thinking the Black would sound something like my old AT150MLX. Need a new Stylus for it, impossible to get I do think if you like the AT150MLX then you probably would like the much cheaper AT VM540ML / 740ML. I have both. The 150MLX is certainly a special cartridge with that boron cantilever, capable of magic sounds with the right recording. However in my system at least it is brighter than the 540ML , and in many respects the newer cartridge is a much better all rounder, keeping most of the same sound signature without sacrificing any detail . As a result, in my system, the 540ML is my reliable but fantastic sounding daily driver, the 150MLX is my single malt whisky for a rainy night. Both have a microline / microridge stylus. The ATN VMN40ml stylus will fit straight on the AT150MLX , so you can experiment with this combo fairly cheaply. The VMN40ML has a higher recommended VTF, but otherwise there will be a minimum of change for set up on your deck. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebediah Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 The 2M Bronze is a little less detailed, but more fun and more forgiving of less than perfect media. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe latte Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 On 27/07/2021 at 9:49 PM, blakey72 said: Nah already worked a few things out with him. I think the suspension was dead or something. He 'grafted' it (cantilever and tip) onto a Grado Blue which broke the other night, caught a cleaning cloth on it somehow. That one will likely get fixed when I get around to it but it's going on another deck Send it to be let me see what I can do. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakey72 Posted August 1, 2021 Author Share Posted August 1, 2021 Ended up picking up a 2M Black for a good price. Just spinning the first now On 30/07/2021 at 7:02 PM, cafe latte said: Send it to be let me see what I can do. Chris Yep was going to do just that mate 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sreg0r Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 Nice one @blakey72 how are you finding it? I recently purchased the vm540ml as an upgrade to a 2m red, and would've suggested the bigger brother VM750SH. But I too would've taken a good deal on the 2m black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe latte Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 On 27/07/2021 at 9:45 PM, blakey72 said: Yeah Neutral is ok for me, difficult to set up might be a deal breaker. I'm new to setting up carts (well done about 5). I'm thinking the Black would sound something like my old AT150MLX. Need a new Stylus for it, impossible to get Retip..?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe latte Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 What happened with the Grado you broke? Send it over and I can see what I can do. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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