Audio-Technica VM740ML MicroLine Dual Moving Magnet Stereo Turntable Cartridge, Red

AT VM 750 SH I installed the cartridge in a vintage Denon DP-30LII I bought in 1987. It still runs like new.Easy install. No issues. But, I'm used to installing ATs. The key is to put one screw through the headshell and just start the thread which what I can only describe as a threaded collet looking fastener that comes with the unit. If you use the also provided nuts you have to install them on top of the headshell otherwise they won't fit. Then slide the cartridge in and barely tighten the unit to the shell. Then install the other screw and fastener through the mount. Don't snug it down because it still has to be aligned. I connected the 4 leads and used a standard protractor for proper alignment. I suggest picking up a tracking force scale. It just is more accurate and easier to set the tracking force. Both tracking force and antiskate were set to 2 grams. There is no tonearm height adjustment on this Denon . But it wasn't an issue with this cartridge anyway.Fired it up and played 180gram edition of Little Feat Waiting for Columbus. It's one of the best live recorded albums I've ever heard and I'm very familiar with the quality of the recording. It just blew me away! The cartridge need to be broken in still. But, right out of the gate. The detail, depth, soundstage and separation is incredible for this price point. Needs some time to break in. But, not overly harsh or boomy. After only a few hours the bass was smoothing out and getting flatter and linear through the its range. Highs were smoothing out also. Not that they were bad to begin with. I've set up an ortofon blue before and it took quite a while to settle down. Not this cartridge. I'm expecting it to continue to improve over the next few days of listening. But, it sounds great now!I very much like Audio Technica cartidges. So, I may be a bit biased. I heard my first one in 1975 and have never been disappointed. Ive tried others and always seem to come back to AT. So, if you like a flat, natural, linear sounding cartridge through its bandwidth at this price point, This one is a fine performer.

I was surprised by how resolving this cartridge/stylus combination actually is. Paired it with a hybrid 1200 clone (Reloop Turn 5), and modest yet halfway decent quality discrete stereo system. Takes awhile to get the head-shell mounting right and adjustments all correct - which is my only real negative point in this review - but doing so very very carefully, is truly worth all of the time and effort. Even considering my less-than-ideal tonearm match, it provides all the high-end detail of the laser micro-styli (which I wasn't honestly expecting, ...and kind of left me flabbergasted) but without the added "pitch sizzle" on dynamic high frequency modulations, for lack of better vernacular. The hi-frequency response is still all there, however it comes across *much "SMOOTHER" to the ear* than the other more modern micro or ridge stylus designs to which I've listened or owned. The "presence" arrives more like flowing aural butter at the eardrums than projectile auditory razor-blades. In abstract audiophilish terms, the treble from this stylus is more "liquid crystalline" than the "crispy sizzle" which I have experienced listening to the ultra-fine-line shapes over the last 25 years or so. A few friends have literally offered interjections regarding the incredibly rich, precise bass it produces, asking "How'd ya get an old record to sound like that?!?" There is no "Ghost Bass" phenomenon occurring with this model. Although I really like the micro-line/ridge sound, if one were to ask a seasoned musician about what "Sustain" in an acoustic instrument is, and then applying that concept to styli, "ghost bass" or "phantom bass sustain" will make much more sense. The 750 is neither boomy or overbearing in the low end though, which had supposedly been a characteristic of the shibata design that kept me away from trying them in the past. It is solidly accurate, thoroughly "full" when bass strings get slap-popped, tympani drums are struck, or when a synth-key is depressed, for example. The heavier tracking of these models may have something to do with it. I am no expert, but to my ear, this design sounds well-rounded.Comparing directly with the purple (440), I must say that the 750 is just flatter across the response. The micro-lines or ridge diamonds will seem to immediately give the listener a greater sense of sound-stage "depth/dimension" but after a few minutes, it becomes evident to good ears by direct contrast that the micro-line type is simply bolstering that sense of "space" in the recording by subduing the mid-range enough to somehow triangulate the pitch timbres (I think?), hence creating illusory "depth." Not so with the 750sh. At outset, for a minute or two, it definitely sounds "shallower," than the "one-horned purple needle eater" (albeit dynamically excellent), until one realizes shortly thereafter it only seems that way at first compared to the micro, because the shibata's mids are all fully present in output level. I'm sure the materials the carts are constructed from is also playing a part as well, though to what effect I do not know. Stereo separation on the 700 body is superb. The micro contacts IME, deliver wonderfully accurate, yet "dry and crispy" detail, whereas the shibata on this cart provides the same detail and accurate subtlety (nothing's "missing), but sounds easier on the ear in a way that is "lush and silky," however still more resolute or clear than a fat-needled equivalent Nag cart (where the mids/treble sound to me as if ever-so-lightly filtered through the "underwater" clean electric guitar effect heard on so many 80's pop albums). This cart has warmed up just a touch through break in, but I haven't noticed any loss of information. I have not heard the SLC stylus, however by examining the design, it does appear that it might also possibly convey some manner of the "ghost bass." At two-hundred + dollars more in price than the shibata, I'm sure it's very nice, but without hearing it, that was a gamble I wasn't about to wager on.I would say this product may be a tonal vs. budgetary sweet spot for many folks who are still serious about the enjoyment of their LP's, but are maybe not wanting to spend or not able to afford paying to achieve "unequivocally breathtaking" sound quality, or just have no desire to engage in what really amounts to being some sort of tonearm-measuring competition for the economically well endowed, to the tune of what working people pay for new autos and prime-location tenancies. Nothing new there. In contrast to other roughly equivalent units, this model's midrange is not overly pronounced, as I've heard with one big competitor's closest offering (bronze), IMO, and the AT's slightly larger-radii shibata diamond does not seem to magnify imperfections and the like quite as much as the competing top-of-line (black) MM apparently does, nor does it come close in cost to either that or the higher tier Nag w/similar stylus. Again, the stylus/cantilever assembly is thin, fragile, and sensitive to stupidity, and to add frustration, the bolt/screw-nut mounting adjustment is finicky and time consuming, but that's the only real negative I've discovered ....yet.Sound-wise, it's been smooth sailing.This may be a "Goldilocks-Zone" cartridge for many folks out there.This cartridge is tonally not too hot, and not too cold.It's ...just right.Recommended.