New readers will notice we’re not selling turntables. We do have the best cartridges on the market, the family of Ortofons which are precision made in Denmark.

I have a hate/love relationship with vinyl. The cover art is large and fun. But that doesn’t get rid of the hum, rumble, mistracking or the excessive clicks and pops. Even on the best of LPs, the Mo-Fi One Steps, you’ll have to eat some noise.

Many an audiophile has told me they don’t like digital sound. I ask them if they knew, almost all albums come from a digital master file. Yup, even the Mo-Fi One Steps are pressed from digital files, not analog tapes. Well done digital sounds fabulous, whether played on a great CD player (Atoll) or streaming platform.

There are a million details that are necessary to making vinyl sound good. From the products you buy, to the way they’re set up. Oh, and then there’s a lifelong discussion of how to clean and maintain your records.

If you just love the mechanicals of vinyl and are willing to pretend the noise isn’t there- suit yourself. That’s not me.

With this in mind, if you have a vinyl itch you have to scratch, I suggest you DON’T pay a fortune for a turntable that will still exhibit all of vinyl’s limitations. Even if you buy an audiophile approved turntable for many thousands, you still have to pretend the noise isn’t there. I’m no longer interested in listening THROUGH the noise. With all the wonderful CDs and great streaming options today, we don’t have to put up with a bobsled riding in a plastic trough.

Instead, go with a modest turntable and put a great Ortofon cartridge on it. They’re made with TLC in Denmark. Most carts are from Asian houses that pump out a plethora of brand names- like baseball hats with different team logos.

The first cart in the Orto line that gets me excited is the Bronze 2M. It has silver/copper wire and a line contact stylus. I much prefer it to the Orto Blue 2M that has copper wire and an elliptical stylus.

The Bronze is a real cut above cart that gets deeper into the grooves than an elliptical. The Bronze on a mid line table will sound better than a Blue on an expensive table. Ortofon makes a plethora of specialist cartridge options. We can recommended the best options for you.