I recently moved up to a vpi scout from a thorens td 160.What became aparent imediately was that i had inner groove distortion problems that a realignment would not cure.What i had was a cart that needed to be replaced or retiped.I ordered a new grado sonata it will not be here for awhile.
I like grado's warm house sound. My old cart the reference platnium gave me this with my td 160.Less so with the new scout but i still liked it very much.
So in the interm i decided to mount my old shure m91 ed and experement with it.I found it but not the stylus assembly so i mounted my other shure a m95 ed.
What i found with the m 95 was that it was very hot in the trebble.Much hotter than my old grado.Its base was also much less tunefull.I had to hear into the music more to find the details that were there before.
Interesting enough it was far from boreing as some have characterised the old shure carts.
If anything it was too in your face for me.My infinity speakers with there hot emit tweeters were not a good match.If you had a speaker with soft dome tweeters or ones made itn the 70's though it might sound very good.
I listened for awhile then a light bulb poped over my head why not try a cart i bought on a whim when i first got into analog.
I mounted my at cn625al.You might think at a list price of 30 bucks it would sound bad.Heck no it actually sounds very good.More balanced than the shure it replaced and much closer to the 300 buck grado its filling in for.
Its actually quieter than my grado on pops and clicks which suprises me seeing as its a conical stylus.
I am going to use this for the 2 weeks its going to take for my sonata to come.All around it just sounds good.Its detailed much more so than my shure's and all the detail in the base has come back too.
It most of all throws a nice soundstage with decent depth.Just a step behind my grado and much better than my shure m95.
All for 30 bucks who would of thought?
Maybe those linn guys were right when they said it was all about the table then the arm with the cart far behind.

I use a hagerman cornet 2 phono pre
Bottlehead foreplay 2
Infinity rs 6001 speakers(modded)
Bryston 2b lp amp
Vpi scout Sme series III arm

Sometimes, but in my experience the Grados are not either the best trackers or the quietest on clicks and pops. Most of my ATs are better trackes and somewhat quieter. That's not a Grado put down, I have 4 of them and they spend a lot of time on the end of the arm. But, this should have opened your eyes to the fact that each cartridge has pretty big differences. Bigger for me than changing tables. I think it comes down to cart/LP synergy and then speakers (I have Infinitys too).

I don't think your table allows for easy cartridge change on a whim? Most of mine do, so I swap carts a LOT. Conicals have a place and so do budget ATs. Sometimes they get along better with one LP than any other combo. Sometimes the LP will want another.

For where you're at, the upline Grado is good to balance the Infinitys. Another fine choice is the AT150MLX. If you get a chance to try that in your rig, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Better tracking than the Grado. Quieter on some LPs with more upper register resolution without the hot top end. A very smooth cartridge with a different voice than the Grado :)

I actually put this same cart on my Rega P2 while my replacement cart is on the way. My experience has been the same, I'm quite surprised.

Robert Mills

It's the current Shure M97xE that people think is boring, not the old Shures. My experience with the M95ED (as well as other older Shures) has been more positive than yours--I perceived it to be more balanced with better bass.

And for those keeping score, the AT you referred to is the CN5625AL, not CN625AL, and the clone is the AT3600. As you have discovered, AT's entry level carts are nothing to sneeze at.

It's the current Shure M97xE that people think is boring, not the old Shures. My experience with the M95ED (as well as other older Shures) has been more positive than yours--I perceived it to be more balanced with better bass.

And for those keeping score, the AT you referred to is the CN5625AL, not CN625AL, and the clone is the AT3600. As you have discovered, AT's entry level carts are nothing to sneeze at.

I didnt mean the m95 was bad.Its best quality was its base there was alot of it even though it was missing a bit of detail.I think another strength is its voices ,no hash or distortion whatsoever.The at can be hard just a bit but it there.
If i was told i had to live with the at for a year i really wouldent be all that sad.I wonder if they are really makeing any money off it.
For 30 bucks id say im about 85% of the way to where my 300 dollar reference platinum is.

I didnt mean the m95 was bad.Its best quality was its base there was alot of it even though it was missing a bit of detail.I think another strength is its voices ,no hash or distortion whatsoever.The at can be hard just a bit but it there.
If i was told i had to live with the at for a year i really wouldent be all that sad.I wonder if they are really makeing any money off it.
For 30 bucks id say im about 85% of the way to where my 300 dollar reference platinum is.
Well, this is old technology, so it costs them almost nothing to make these. In bulk you can actually pick them up for less than $10 a piece. Even their p-mounts are excellent.

Hi,

Another issue yet is that the Audio-Technica you have is well matched to your VPI arm. The Shure is less suited to usage on a VPI.

I think a lot of these differences among cartridges is cable capacitance and preamp input circuit compatibility. Extended frequency response is not a problem for any decent mag cartridge. the Shure M97xe will do 20-20 khz +- 1db when properly loaded. The resonance is very well damped so it does not sound peaky. Perhaps that is where the "excitement" is.

Hi,

Another issue yet is that the Audio-Technica you have is well matched to your VPI arm. The Shure is less suited to usage on a VPI.

How so? I thought the VPI arm was low mass. The high compliance Shure should theoretically be a better match than the low compliance AT.

Hi,

The VPI is low/medium mass. This cartridge matches it well. Excellent arm. The Shure is also good on it. Most VPI owners tend to use MC cartridges which usually are medium mass.

Dudes- I think it says he's running an SME series III on the Scout?!

Hi,

With the SME, the Shure would be best. The best AT choice here for sound and tonearm compatibility would be the AT 120 E/T, or 440 MLa.