Was wondering what the best mm cartridge would be for the Sprout? Any ideas?
I don’t think there’s a right answer to this question. You may want to avoid cartridges that have a reputation for being boomy, since the Sprout has a bass boost at about 70Hz. And the answer may depend more on your turntable and how the cartridge pairs with that. But other than that any well reviewed cartridge at about $80-$100 should sound great.
As for me, I have a Nagaoka MP-300 cartridge on my turntable. I am very pleased with it. It costs quite a bit more than $100, but Nagaoka makes an entry level cartridge that costs around $100 that is also quite good.
My experience as a new vinyl user with Sprout is as follows:
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U-turn orbit plus TT with Grado prestige black cartridge (3.5mV) - volume output was extremely low. I literally had to keep my Sprout at the 3 o’ clock position to hear reasonable level. I even asked Scott if something was wrong with the Sprout.
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U-turn orbit plus TT with AT95e cartridge (3.5mV) - higher output than the Grado. This was a really nice cartridge and I was able to get good sound at the 12 o’ clock or 1 o’ clock positions.
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Pro-Ject debut carbon dc TT with Ortofon 2M blue cartridge (5.5 mV) - current setup and oh man it sings with the sprout from the 9 o’clock - 12 0’ clock positions. Output is loud and amazingly musical. Better than CD quality for me and my jaws dropped as I finally heard what Vinyl was supposed to sound like.
I have my Sprout paired with Wharfedale diamond 10.2 speakers with matching stands. Just awesome!
KSub
That’s awesome!! Thanks for th the report and letting us know.