I recently purchased one of the now infamous humming AT 440MLa cartridges. I'm sending it back to the Amazon Marketplace seller I bought if from (Pricepiggy.com) and I'm getting a refund.

I want to order one from a different company, one that maybe has turned some of these units over and/or purged their stock of hummers.

Anyone order a non-humming 440 for under $150.00 lately?

BTW, LP gear is out of stock.

Try Garage-A-Records first. Then I'd say LPGear and I'd wait for the new stock. If you need another cartridge in the meantime, buy an AT120e cartridge (or a used 130 or 140 for that matter if you can find one) and order a replacement 440MLa stylus too. You can use the 120 body with a 440MLa stylus. The combo is not a 440, but sounds pretty good and tracks like a lazer because of the 440 stylus. The combo has no hum issues as far as I know. I have one lashed up that way and it's very nice.

However, if you are looking for a higher level of performance and can afford it, just skip this level and get an AT150Ti from Japan direct. Do a "want it now" on eBay and you'll get a seller who will set-up a sale for you. Should be about $130. Later you can upgrade the titanium stylus for an MLX boron stylus with nude fine line - that's a very nice cartridge/stylus. Or buy a full-on AT150MLX for about $250. That's a great cartridge :)

Try Garage-A-Records first. Then I'd say LPGear and I'd wait for the new stock. If you need another cartridge in the meantime, buy an AT120e cartridge (or a used 130 or 140 for that matter if you can find one) and order a replacement 440MLa stylus too. You can use the 120 body with a 440MLa stylus. The combo is not a 440, but sounds pretty good and tracks like a lazer because of the 440 stylus. The combo has no hum issues as far as I know. I have one lashed up that way and it's very nice.

However, if you are looking for a higher level of performance and can afford it, just skip this level and get an AT150Ti from Japan direct. Do a "want it now" on eBay and you'll get a seller who will set-up a sale for you. Should be about $130. Later you can upgrade the titanium stylus for an MLX boron stylus with nude fine line - that's a very nice cartridge/stylus. Or buy a full-on AT150MLX for about $250. That's a great cartridge :)

Thanks. That's all very helpful. I'll look into it!:thmbsp:

Brett a, BrocLuno's given you some good advice. The only thing I can add is that I'd wait for LPGear to get more stock. I understand that when they do re-stock it will be with factory tested cartridges that do not hum. The only question is will the price go up?

I'm using an 120e body with 440mla stylus and hear no difference compared to using the original 440mla body. I purchased a 120e cartridge and a 440mla stylus. It cost more but I have a spare 120e stylus for use on old scratched records. The 120e sounds pretty good, some actually prefer it over the 440mla.

Brett a, BrocLuno's given you some good advice. The only thing I can add is that I'd wait for LPGear to get more stock. I understand that when they do re-stock it will be with factory tested cartridges that do not hum. The only question is will the price go up?

I'm using an 120e body with 440mla stylus and hear no difference compared to using the original 440mla body. I purchased a 120e cartridge and a 440mla stylus. It cost more but I have a spare 120e stylus for use on old scratched records. The 120e sounds pretty good, some actually prefer it over the 440mla.

Thanks. That gives me more to consider.
I'm not too excited to wait for LP Gear b/c I won't be able to listen to vinyl in the mean time. And after my brief time with the 440 MLA, even though it hummed, I'm juiced to finally hear my vinyl w/o the graininess I used to associate with it. Maybe I can hold out a week or so...

Contacted LP Gear this morning and they do not expect to be recieving any soon as they believe Audio Technica has no stock to give out...

...is it possible that AT is going back to the drawing board/redesign board on this cart because of the problems?

Like I said do the 120e thing, or move up to the Japan only 150Ti. You'll be spinning tunes soon enough :)

The 120e is around $80 from Garage-A-Records.com If it's not quite to your liking, install a 440MLa stylus (which has nothing to do with the hum) and you'll have a Micro-Line 120. That will serve for a couple of years at least.

Audio Technica is out of stock on the 440 Mla. I priced them everywhere and went to their site. No time given for next shipment. Most places who have them listed for under $100 are also out of stock.

Yup, and when they get here - they'll be higher do to dollar vs yen and the pent up demand :(

But the 150Ti is available in a few days via the 'Bay. Others here have gone this route and are very happy. I would have and was in the middle of doing the deal (just waiting for the sale to be set-up) when my AT150MLX came up on the 'Bay with a spare stylus and I got it for my bid. So I did not get a chance to try the Ti - I was actually looking forward to that too. But according to reports it's a good sound and it's obviously a good deal :)

I did find the 440 under $100 and they had it in stock. The first few places were all out, even though their website said they had it. I don't know if it is proper to list where I found it on this forum, but I googled AT440 MLa to find it. If you need one and can't find it, send me a private message. I guess that is OK, if that is against forum or AK rules please let me know. Thanks again for all the advice, members here have really been a big help to me. Most of the used stuff I have picked up has come from AK members and all of it has been as described, at a very fair price.
If anyone has talked to Mr Lin lately he said he had a flu that was kicking his butt. Hope he is doin' better, very helpful guy.

I did find the 440 under $100 and they had it in stock. The first few places were all out, even though their website said they had it. I don't know if it is proper to list where I found it on this forum, but I googled AT440 MLa to find it. If you need one and can't find it, send me a private message. I guess that is OK, if that is against forum or AK rules please let me know. Thanks again for all the advice, members here have really been a big help to me. Most of the used stuff I have picked up has come from AK members and all of it has been as described, at a very fair price.
If anyone has talked to Mr Lin lately he said he had a flu that was kicking his butt. Hope he is doin' better, very helpful guy.

I'm finally well again, thank you:thmbsp: