Phono Cartridge Reviews

Budget Component Reviews Phono Cartridge Reviews

Excel Sound/LP Gear The Vessel Moving Magnet Cartridge System

Tom Fine Dec 15, 2025

When it comes to phonography, I'm not terribly picky, but I do have preferences. I maintain my records well because I prefer to play clean records, with minimal pops, clicks, and crackle to distract me. I like a phono cartridge that tracks average platters perfectly and difficult sides at least very well.

Budget Component Reviews Historical Phono Cartridge Reviews

Benz-Micro MC-20E II & MC Silver phono cartridges

Corey Greenberg Feb 14, 2025 First Published: Apr 01, 1993

No matter how much I upgrade my digital rig, my trusty $1195 Well-Tempered Record Player blows it away without half trying. . . That's why I corralled a bunch of promising midpriced cartridges and spent a couple of months settin' 'em up, breakin' 'em in, and listenin' to 'em on my favorite records.

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Luxman LMC-5 moving coil phono cartridge

Ken Micallef Aug 10, 2022 First Published: Aug 10, 2022

Since 1925, Japan-based Luxman Corporation has manufactured high-quality integrated amplifiers, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, phono stages, turntables, and, more recently, DACs and CD players. But it has been 40 years since Luxman introduced a new phono cartridge; the last one was the LMC-2 in 1982, released just after 1981's LMC-1. That dry period ended with the introduction of the Luxman LMC-5 ($2695).

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Stanton 681EE & 681A phono cartridges

J. Gordon Holt May 11, 2022 First Published: Jun 01, 1970

Superb tracking ability, very good imaging and extremely smooth frequency response, plus unusual freedom from mounting problems make this one of the best pickups available and, quite possibly, the best all-around performer we have encountered.

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Ortofon MC Century phono cartridge

Michael Fremer Sep 07, 2021 First Published: Sep 01, 2018

A few years ago, Leif Johannsen, Ortofon's chief officer of acoustics and technology, was tasked with designing new products to commemorate the company's 100th anniversary, in 2018 (footnote 1). Ten years ago, to celebrate Ortofon's 90th, he came up with the radical A90 moving-coil cartridge, which used Selective Laser Melt (SLM) technology to laser-weld together microparticles of stainless steel, layer by layer, to produce a 3D-printed metal body whose shape would have been impossible to machine.

Budget Component Reviews Phono Cartridge Reviews

Sumiko Blue Point & Blue Point Special phono cartridges

Corey Greenberg Jul 07, 2021 First Published: Apr 01, 1993

In these waning days of Analog's Last Stand, it might seem absurd to review midpriced phono cartridges when this space could be given instead to the gear Stereophile usually coverslike $3000 OTL tube amps built by guys like that "Rainbow Man" lone nut who used to dance in the stands at Super Bowls before he took hostages in a hotel room with a .45 screaming, "MIT CAPACITORS!!! MIT CAPACITORS!!!"

Historical J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Grado Model A phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt Nov 13, 2020 First Published: May 01, 1966

One of the best pickups we've heard to date, the Grado A was introduced with some fanfare in the fall of 1964 (footnote 1) and then, for no apparent reason, was withdrawn just one year later. It is probably still available, though, either used or, discounted, as new stock at some dealers.

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Talisman S MC phono cartridge

Guy Lemcoe Jun 04, 2020 First Published: Jul 01, 1989

The Talisman S represented, ca 1983, the top of Sumiko's moving-coil cartridge line and shared its design philosophy and external appearance with the Talisman A and B, the remaining two cartridges in the Talisman family before the introduction of the Virtuoso line. The three differed only in cantilever material and stylus shape. The A, the least expensive, had an aluminum alloy cantilever and an elliptical diamond stylus.

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Audio-Technica AT-ML 150/OCC phono cartridge

Michael Fremer Jun 03, 2020 First Published: Jul 01, 1999

How can two meticulously built, high-technology, high-performance, premium-quality moving-magnet cartridges that measure so well (according to their manufacturer-supplied specs) sound so different?

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Shure V15 V-MR phono cartridge

Sam Tellig, Anthony H. Cordesman, Michael Fremer May 05, 2020 First Published: Sep 01, 1984

I was all set to give up on moving magnets until the new Shure VI5-VMR (MR stands for Micro-Ridge stylus) arrived. In a word, it's terrific. I was slightly disappointed with the original V15-V: I just didn't think it was a significant improvement over the Type IV. What I missed was fine detailespecially in the high frequencies and during heavily modulated passages. The original V was not quite up to the sound of certain moving coils. Which is not to say the original V was a bad buy: moving coils cost twice the price and you need a stepup. I could recommend the original V without hesitation.