Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Love it or hate it, it just won't stop
Post Reply
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#1 Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Post by vinylnvalves »

A bit like Ant I am after any first hand experience of the Goldring 2500 moving Iron cartridge. ( This one as I have an offer of one at a good price) Looking it as a backup maybe on a second arm, to give me a cartridge of a different presentation to my other cartridges. I have the option to load cartridges with capacitance down to a 100pf - so can avoid the harshness that it and some MM cartridges suffer if loaded with too much capacitance. It will either go on the 774 or a space arm.
Ant
Shed dweller
Posts: 2332
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:45 pm
Location: Yorkshire

#2 Re: Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Post by Ant »

I cant comment on the 2500 directly, but i can say that there was something really nice about the soundsmith moving iron i tried.
The presentation was punchy and lively, and things seemed to start and stop on a dime. The stylus profile let it down, not the generator
In order to afford to get the at33 and the transport and dac (and a few other bits and pieces) i sold a load of my carts and arms, the soundsmith along with them. The reason was not the sound, it was the fact that i couldnt get it to track that well. I couldnt put up with the below par tracking which was the deal breaker.
Perhaps i am too particular.
But, i looked long and hard at the higher levels of soundsmith range before dismissing them. The only reason was that the stylus profiles i wanted were way above my budget in their range.
I did look at the 2500 myself as it has some sort of fg2 stylus, but i couldnt make head or tail of all the conflicting reviews.
But i really did like the soundsmith moving iron
Also starring Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

www.bte-designs.weebly.com
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#3 Re: Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Post by vinylnvalves »

Thanks Ant. I thought you had some issues with a Goldring Cartridge recently, so wasn’t sure if as a brand I should avoid.
I had a Music Maker on loan some years back - and had fond memories of it, so thought I might try a moving Iron cartridge based on that distant memory. It’s also an excuse to get another turntable out of the loft.

In a similar vein I am currently not liking the tracking ability of the VM750 I got, it doesn’t plough through the not so perfect records, groove jumping on records the kontra B had no issues with, even though they both have similar stylus profiles. I have messed around with everything like VTA, VTF and antiskate I can make the sound quality worse but it doesn’t affect its ability to track any better. I might try it on another arm ( once I have modified an arm board)
Ant
Shed dweller
Posts: 2332
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:45 pm
Location: Yorkshire

#4 Re: Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Post by Ant »

The goldring i had issues with was an eroica lx, and it was me being a wally that caused them. I got the stylus hooked in a microfibre cloth i was dusting the tt with and broke the cantilever off....
Not sure why you should be having issues with the 750, ive used the 440, 540 and at150 and all of them tracked very well
Only time i had skipping problems was with the at150, the azimuth was quite a way off and id not noticed that when i put the headshell back in the arm
Also starring Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

www.bte-designs.weebly.com
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#5 Re: Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Post by vinylnvalves »

I have heard too many stories of people cleaning tonearms breaking the stylus, or catching it in a mohair jumper. I just let mine get dusty.. as I haven’t come across a good way of covering the hyperspace. Some people use cloths but that’s a disaster waiting to happen. The VM750 sounds great with the capacitance dialled down. Shame it cannot cope with some of my vinyl. The only other thing I haven’t considered is the tonearm matching but that has never as far as I know caused tracking issues.
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#6 Re: Opinion about Goldring 2500 Cartridge

Post by vinylnvalves »

Just looking at the azimuth after you mentioned it yesterday. Checking that I had installed they plastic stylus holder square onto the body. If you assume the body is square it does look as if the stylus surround isn’t square one edge is visually closer to the edge of the body than the other. The following photo shows hopefully what I mean. (Ipad crap for photos). No azmuith adjustments on the zeta. I had to level the arm mount to the platter, it’s parallel to 1mm in 150mm to the platter, was a PITA.
42B784EC-CC2D-4760-BC27-DFE528426F48.jpeg
Post Reply