Q: I am ordering the $299 Musical Fidelity Roundtable turntable listed on your website. Should I upgrade the cartridge? And, if so, with what?
A: Some background information: In the process of doing research, sometimes I find fantastic deals on high-quality equipment. I post these deals on my website so visitors can take advantage of them. This question is related to one of those posts.
The Musical Fidelity Roundtable turntable is one of the best bargains I have found in a long time. Musical Fidelity is a well-respected British high-end audio manufacturer. The Roundtable is built for them by Pro-Ject, the world's top producer of premium turntables. Available in either red or black, the Roundtable lists for $1,000 with cartridge, but Music Direct has the package on sale for $299.
Granted, some reviewers suggest that the list price is a bit inflated. To them, the Roundtable seems more akin to a $700 turntable than a $1,000 turntable. Even so, a $700 turntable for $299 is still an outstanding deal, and Pro-Ject makes a quality product. Visit tinyurl.com/mfrdeal to learn more.
The reader asked about upgrades because the included Audio-Technica AT95E cartridge is a budget cartridge — although a very good one. You have to be careful when upgrading cartridges on inexpensive turntables because the turntable itself may not be a precise-enough instrument to get all of the performance out of the cartridge, and in some cases, it won't work at all. Inexpensive turntables often have lightweight tonearms and steel platters that are not a good match for high-end cartridges.
The Roundtable is much better than the budget cartridge that comes with it, but it will extract every last bit of performance from it and sound excellent in the process. That being said, the turntable is certainly worthy of a cartridge upgrade. Music Direct said that if a customer buys both the turntable and cartridge from them, they will mount the cartridge for free. Cartridges must be properly mounted for top performance (especially expensive cartridges), and it is a difficult, tedious task. The benefit of professional mounting cannot be overstated.
I can't think of a better match to the Roundtable than Grado's Reference Platinum 2. This $350 wood-bodied cartridge brings out the essence of music with rich sound, tremendous detail throughout the range and extremely deep and well-defined bass. Combined with the Roundtable, it makes for an unbeatable $649 combination.
Even those who stick with the supplied cartridge are going to be very happy. Please note that like other high-end turntables, the Roundtable does not have a built-in phono preamp. It must be used with a receiver or amplifier with a phono input or with an external phono preamp.
Send questions to Don Lindich at donlindich@gmail.com. Get recommendations and read past columns at soundadvicenews.com.
