A properly setup Sumiko Blue Point low output gives amazing performance for money.
It ticks all the boxes with musical tone, soundstage in every direction and it sells for $499.
If your phono stage is gain challenged, there’s a high output version.
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Thanks for the heads up, we’ve been needing another cartridge.
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I have the Sumiko Songbird low output and love it
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plus, as you know @tmcqueen, its blue and matches all those blue vinyl records I now seek out
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It will match the blue ortofon 2m blue we have…
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I may have one with low hours. If you are interested, PM me, I’m sure we can come up with a good price.
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I owned a Sumiko Blue Point Special and Sumiko Blackbird. They’re great performers in their price range 
I appreciate it, but already have one on the way, but I hate missing a bargain!!
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There are 2 moving coils I can recommend without reservation, (depending on budget!) First, the Hana ML-S, at a list price of $750; it uses a line contact stylus, and sounds better than many much more expensive carts. At the $2500 level, the Hana Umami Blue is superb - see the half dozen or so recent online reviews; you can"t go wrong at either price point.
I have the Sumiko Starling from the Reference Series. More expensive for sure, but I’ve become a Sumiko cartridge fan in general because the house sound works for me. The new open-body carts, the Starling, Songbird and Blackbird are great stuff. Neutral overall, just a tad bit of midrange sweetness but that’s phono stage dependent (I’ve used the Starling with two very different phono stages). And, easier to set up … less fussy … than Lyra’s Delos, which is the closest direct competitor to the Starling. Sumiko’s been in the cartridge business a long time. They know what they’re doing.
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Expert Stylus do a sapphire cantilever and Paratrace modification of the DL-103R. Think it was £800 or thereabouts including the new DL-103R. It’s an amazing performer, but wears out relatively quickly. Just send back for a Paratrace retip and service, around £250.
It’s quite a sizeable business, he has four full-time engineers last time I spoke to them (Wyndham Hodgson and his able client liaison/daughter Julia) and I was 35th in line for my DL-103R. No website. Very traditional, all word of mouth.
My experience with the Sumiko Blue Point Special, nude, was to the contrary. Mounted on a Linn Ittok LV II tone arm, Linn Sondek, into an Audible Illusions Modulus 3. I found it to be over rated, and somewhat artificial sounding, lacking subtlety. So proceed with caution. A friend had a Blue Point Special EVO. I pointed out the limitations of the cartridge and suggested a Hana SL, he went with the Hana ML and couldn’t be happier with the change. When considering the BPS at the price I preferred the Ortofon Bronze, Audio Technica OC-9, and a well run in Grace F9e Ruby. Various iterations of the Denon 103 are overachievers. For more detail the discontinued Denon DL-304 MC is a stunning over achiever. Matching to the specific tone arm is critical, and as we all know aligning it to your listening priorities in your system is key.
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I believe the Hana SL is $750, the Hana ML comes in at $1200. Have yet to hear the Umami Blue.
You are correct; sorry for the typo - I meant Hana SL (not ML-S)! The Umami Blue is quite a cartridge, and I think they will have trouble keeping up with demand.
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