Cartridge & Flat Preamp

[Dan McDonald]

How much impact does the cartridge have on the sound that is recorded via a flat preamp?
That is, does the cartridge 'color' the sound differently depending on the make, etc? or is the signal as close to flat as it can get, no matter what cartridge you are using?

Dan

[Craig Maier]

Hi,

My experience with cartridges is that none of them are perfectly flat and the differences in the sound between them is partially a result of the way that the manufacturer emphasizes certain frequencies in the spectrum.

Craig

[Marc Hildebrant]

Recently, I tried a 78 record with a Stanton 500 cartridge and a Grado MTE +1 cartridge. Both had a "78" needle in them, but the same needle was not used in each of course.

Each had a different sound to them. In my specific case, the Grado cleaned up better, but that's not to say that the Grado is "better".

Maex