Hobby Audio Question

[LostGBX]

hello, I have a question from people with more experience in audiophile grade equipment.

I recently scored a direct drive jvc la31 turntable, as I collect audio equipment, and realized that this TT has potential. I'm looking for a new cartridge, and am having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. 

i have a max budget of 2.1k if I need to and hope to not spend more than 29 pounds.

 

i would love to have a frequency range of at least 20hz to 21khz and respectable bass and highs.

i looked at the omega 1e, as well as the p-705

https://www.ortofon.com/omega-p-705

and it seemed all right, but am i making the right decision 

 

your help is greatly appreciated.

[tikker]

10 minutes ago, LostGBX said:

i have a max budget of 2.1k if I need to and hope to not spend more than 29 pounds.

That budget spread lol. I have the Ortofon OM5e on my Project Debut III and it sounds great to me, but I'm also not audiophile to the level where I would spend $1000 on a cartridge. It "only" goes up to 20 kHz, but people often can't hear that or higher anyway, depending on age. Don't know how it compares to the P705 price or performance wise as I can't find it locally or find much about it online.

[LostGBX]

6 minutes ago, tikker said:

That budget spread lol. I have the Ortofon OM5e on my Project Debut III and it sounds great to me, but I'm also not audiophile to the level where I would spend $1000 on a cartridge. It "only" goes up to 20 kHz, but people often can't hear that or higher anyway, depending on age. Don't know how it compares to the P705 price or performance wise as I can't find it locally or find much about it online.

its not actually for me, its for my son. all he said is to spend up to 2.1k and for it to be silver. thank you. I will tell him about this.

[tikker]

10 hours ago, LostGBX said:

its not actually for me, its for my son. all he said is to spend up to 2.1k and for it to be silver. thank you. I will tell him about this.

Audio equipment quickly goes into the territory of diminishing returns I find. Spending say $1000 on a cartridge (or any other component for that matter) would only make sense if he has the complements to back up its performance. A super expensive cartrdige is wasted on cheap so-so speakers and super expensive speakers are wasted on a meh cartridge, so it's best to strike a balance.

 

I don't know what level of audiophile (if any) your son is, but my setup is fine for casual listening. People seem positive about the Omega as well, from reading, so I doubt it'll be a bad choice and will be good enough to start with.

[LostGBX]

He's pretty up there, He has a better setup than I've ever had. its supposed to be a gift for him. I guess he can get his own if he wants a better one.

[tikker]

13 hours ago, LostGBX said:

He's pretty up there, He has a better setup than I've ever had. its supposed to be a gift for him. I guess he can get his own if he wants a better one.

I think gifts like this are always tricky. For the truly thousands of dollars high end gear people typically already have their eyes set on very particular things that they want. If this takes it from a badly sounding or simply inoperable turntable to a working one that's awesome. If they want an expensive upgrade, and you are fine with gifting it to them, it would be better if he just told you exactly which one or what he is looking for.

[artuc]

Put an Ortofon OM cartridge (not sure exactly what flavour) on an older belt drive JVC.

 

Sounded great, only minor issue was the aesthetics were a bit off.

 

Audio can very much be a personal thing but in my opinion quickly gets into the realms of stupidity where massive amounts of money get you marginal improvements and snake oil.

 

Decent replacement cartridges are probably going to better than whatever it shipped with.

 

Edit: Also might be more suited to the audio section. Might get some more input. Have reported to mods.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Audio

[LostGBX]

On 4/4/2021 at 9:47 AM, LogicalDrm said:

-> Moved to Audio

thank you.