Currently, it has a Grado Prestige Gold installed on it, and while I find this to be a generally very musical cartridge, it's hum on the inner grooves is quite disturbing.
Can anyone recommend a good cartridge pairing for the P3/RB300?
Cartridge selection for the P2/P3 is tricky because of no VTA adjustments on the RB300 arm (without aftermarket mod-ing, that is). So you need to find a cartirdge w/ the 'right' height. I have a Goldring 1022GX and am pretty happy w/ it. I hear that you can upgrade to the 1042 stylus (keeping the 1022 body) for a small upcharge...anyone confirm this?
Something called "mu-metal"? is available that will totally eliminate this Hum You speak of {achieved by sliding a sheet under the plinth between said cartridge and motor}........Grado's moving Iron design has this faulty? trait. I consider Grado to possess 90 per cent of the midrange beauty of the finest moving coil for virtually pennies on the dollar without the added amplification.
I not keeping the Grado, I'm instead considering the following cartridges which have been reccomended for use with the Rega turntable, and which are available to my salesman.
Thought someone might be interested to learn that I decided on the Clearaudio Aurum Alpha Wood, and let me say that while it cost almost twice the price of the Grado Gold, it was well worth the cost! What a musical cartridge!
It's extremely quiet, with no hum at all, and it tracks extremely well. It pays very little attention to record wear and gets well below the surface scratches for a very clean presentation. One note though, it will require some height adjustment of the stock Rega RB300 in order to have a reasonable VTA. It is a very tall cartridge.
Rega make spacers for the RB300 in 2mm and 4mm thicknesses. You undo the arm from the deck and slip the spacers in to get the arm height about right. If you want a more accurate solution, both Origin Live and Michell make a VTA adjuster for the RB300 which is basically an extended nut, allowing youn to adjust the VTA completely accurately. The Rega spacers cost peanuts and the other adjusters are only fairly costly AFAIK.