Stephen Mejias

Save some money and try the new Shelter 201 and let us know how it sounds. This table deserves better, but what the heck, with the swapable headshells you can always change to another cart you will buy by year's end...you know you will! If not stretch a little and try the Ortofon X5MC.

have you checked out the zu? http://www.zuaudio.com/turntables.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=34&category_id=17got great reviews - not sure how it goes with wood though.

Grado Platinum. The wood body looks like a match for the Sapphire. I've also heard it sounds pretty good.

Er, it has to "look good" with the deck...? Cartridge-choice is better based on musical performance and a well though-out construction. Furthermore, it should fall well into the arm's cart.weight-range (not a big problem with the MMT, but it can be with some arms).Anyway, here are my recommendations for that price-ceiling -and this arm:-For a high-output cart with replaceable stylus: the Nagaoka MP 200 (great Moving Permalloy cart with an organic, fluid presentation).-Low output Moving Coil: Audio Technica OC-9 (less organic, more analytical but great at finer detail and impulse).The Sota's a fabulous deck; should last forever.

Looks like you will have lots to choose from in the $300 range. At your price range I you may setoff a maelstrom of debate as the looks to be around the crossover range between MM cartridges and MC cartridges. That said I have been interested in trying the Ortofon Samba myself to hear the difference. My only experience thus far is with my Ortofon 2M Red that came with my turntable. So not much help there. That said the Grado would look nice keeping with the wood look of the table.

The Grado Refenence Platinum at $300 is a great suggestion. Grados work well with the MMT (I used earlier Grados with an MMT on a SOTA for years). The Platinum is a great cartridge that has a somewhat romantic sound, in keeping with the vibe of the apartment you describe. As the earlier post noted, the mahogany body of the Grado would look great with the SOTA, and there is nothing wrong with having both good sound and good looks.

emiser makes a great suggestion: the Zu rework of the classic Denon 103 (a cartridge you're already quite familiar with, yes?) is a killer cart, and it has a very cool look. It needs a good transformer to conjure its best magic though, which will add-er-subtract from your budget.

I agree with John; the 103 is great (I mentioned the OC-9 because it's easy to accomodate with an affordable Phono-pre such as the ones from NAD and Cambridge Audio). Denon's own DL-103R is more affordable than the Zu-version and it's a real honey. That would leave some more cash for a trannie (they can be inexpensive s/h; the Ortofon T20 has adjustable impedance-settings, for example). Yup, that woul be the ultimate misic-maker, if the budget allows it (as far as high-output is concerned; the MP-200 cart is sweet!).