Hello Mr. Brendo
I've never tried a DJ cartridge. I figure they're made to take a lot of abuse.
For a starter system, I'd go with an Ortofon 2M Red (deals can be found, $100 with head shell) and a TC753LC phono stage, decent, bare bones for around $50.
I see that Amazon no longer sells the excellent Yaqin MS23B tube phono state. I've used one and liked it a lot. It has 2 x 12ax7 tubes and is a great candidate for tube rolling. They used to go for around $200, can probably still be found on ebay.
Music Hall has a budget phono stage which I'm using on a beautiful Denon DP45F table with a Grado gold cartridge. Sounds very good.
Not sure this helped much, but good luck to you!
PS
So, why am I not using the Yaqin? The Yaqin has a metal canopy over the two tubes. I wanted to upgrade the tubes to a pair of Mullards (worth much more than the Yaqin). I unscrewed it but did not realize there was a spring under the canopy. Well, the spring sprung, the canopy bounced off the ceiling and I could never find the spring again. After that it had a hum I could not get rid of. Miss that little guy, When it was good, it was very good.
Last edited by 2x6spds; 06/04/20 07:19 PM.
