I have been thinking about trying out Moving Coil carts for a while now, and when a got the opportunity to buy a Michell ISO MC phono amp for $150 I thought, why not? I have been slightly disappionted with my Pioneer SA-9900 phonostage and ortofon OMP-20 cart, and I think that going MC'd could be cool, exciting & new. But of course expensive.

I have a Technics SL-1025 with a EPA-500 tone arm. I have two wands, the EPA-505 (T4P mount) with the OMP-20 on it, and the EPA-501H with a Ortofon MC-200 attached to it.

Since I have not received the RIAA-stage yet, I have not tested the needle quality on the MC-200. But my assumption is that it is probably worn. Because I cannot replace the stylus, I must either have the Ortofon retipped, or get a new cart.

Where can one get a MC-200 retipped? Is it expensive?

What MC cartridge would you recomend for my EPA-501H at $300 or (preferably) below?

Greatful for any input!

The MC 200 was a decent, low output MC in its day. But retipping would cost you much more than that cartridge is (or ever was) worth. Vandenhul will retip cartridges, and so will a couple of other outfits. But get ready for sticker shock! Retipping is seriously expensive, and you can by many much better MC cartridges for the price of retipping your Ortofon. My advice would be to use it as a trade-in to ortofon for one of thier newer MCs.

Can't say enough good about the Ortofon Kontrapunkt b I listen to. Unfortunately, am approaching 1000 hours so will have to give some real thought on what to do next.

You might ask Ortofon about retipping service on their cartridges and see what they recommend. I've found that they are very helpful when you give them a call.

Can't say enough good about the Ortofon Kontrapunkt b I listen to. Unfortunately, am approaching 1000 hours so will have to give some real thought on what to do next.

You might ask Ortofon about retipping service on their cartridges and see what they recommend. I've found that they are very helpful when you give them a call.
That is a better cartridge than is the MC-200. It was originally about a $250 cartridge back in the 80s. And retipping the 200 would cost at least as much as buying a new Kontrapunkt. Furthermore, from what I understand Ortofon does not retip their cartridges; they just give you a trade-in allowance twoards a new cart.

To me this make the choice very clear: trade that puppy in for one of the nice new ortofons. :thmbsp:

The Denon DL-103 or 103R would fit the bill. Great cartridges at a bargain price. You'll have to spend quite a bit more money to approach either of them. I just got the R for the "new" rig that I put together - a Garrard 401 and SME3012. It's sounding good so far and should get better with some more breaking in. If I remember right the DL-103 is about $150 and the 103R is about $250 (round numbers).

The Needle Doctor's website is a good source of information on most available cartridges, including the Ortofon line and the Denon line. They may not have the best pricing on the cartridge that you want, but they will have the info.
http://www.needledoctor.com/

The Denon DL-103 or 103R would fit the bill. Great cartridges at a bargain price. You'll have to spend quite a bit more money to approach either of them. I just got the R for the "new" rig that I put together - a Garrard 401 and SME3012. It's sounding good so far and should get better with some more breaking in. If I remember right the DL-103 is about $150 and the 103R is about $250 (round numbers).
Those are fairly low compliance carts. They may not be very well suited to his arm, if the arem worked with the MC-200. FYI - the MC-200 was a meduim-ish compliance cartridge.

Thanks for your input!

As goldear notes, my tone arm is high compliance matched, so I think the Denons (103, 103R) are not the greatest carts in that respect... Or? My knowledge in cartridge compliance is lacking, so any help is welcome.

I have written Ortofon, and they are paying 750 swedish crowns (roughly $100, but some of this is due to weak dollar exhange rate) for my cart as a trade in. So if I'm going to buy a new one, it's probably going to be a Ortofon. But I'm not locked in to that solution either.