LP Gear T4P REFERENCE SERIES VML phono cartridge

This is an impressive cartridge, and worth every dollar of the $250 spent on it. I purchased it in hopes or replacing my Technics 310 MC Cartridge. I wanted to save my Technics 310 MC for a rainy day or just for keeps sake, seeing they are so valuable and rare. What I hoped for I got, a tight, clean playing cartridge, in every aspect. All the highs, mids, mid mids, mid bass, and bass sound great. I feel as if I lost no hearing quality.At first sight I was a bit skeptical as the cartridge is just a bit smaller, as is diamond needle tip. I must say, this T4P Reference Series VML phono cartridge from LP Gear is a keeper. If you have an SL 10, make sure to push the moving cartridge button in back before playing or it will not transmit frequency correctly. Pushing the button is the magic. I'm not sure how people give this thing a bad review, but for $250, LP Gear's discounted price, it's worth every dollar.No, it's not a $1,000 cartridge, but sound wise its worth much more than price paid. I'm thinking these bad reviewers didn't push MC button in back and that's the reason for horrible muffled sound they got, and their inaccurate reviews. PUSH THE BUTTON!!!

I thought this would be a good replacement for my Shure V15. It was not - sounded horrible. Does not track well and sounded really bad. I replaced with the cheaper AT85EP and it confirmed that the reference series VML was a waste of time and money.

Being the first and possibly only review for this item that was introduced back in 2018, I suspect that potential buyers are reluctant to purchase what appears to be a house brand for a phono cartridge. Since most buyers are even less likely to purchase a P-mount (T4P) cartridge these days, that goes double for this model.The cartridge is obviously designed for quality-conscious users of the once-popular 80s or 90s P-mount tonearm turntables. By contrast, the vast majority of turntables manufactured now seemed to have been based on the medium to high mass tonearm designs popular in the 70s (many are S-shaped and J-shapred tonearms that only add mass). No doubt this is done for nostalgia and it has forced cartridge manufacturers to accommodate these them by making low-compliance cartridges.Knowledgeable (mostly old school) users will know that, all else being equal, low effective mass tonearms (with sufficiently low friction bearings) combined with high compliance cartridges will yield much more consistent tracking forces, especially on warped records, for lower distortion. All records are warped to some degree (even invisibly).The beauty of this P-mount design is that it was designed specifically to adhere to a fixed standard of cartridge and tonearm mass and cartridge compliance, resulting in the ability to track pretty much any warped record you may have.This particular LP Gear Reference Series VML phono cartridge goes further by incorporating Audio-Technica's MicroLine stylus to enable the ability to track all of the details of the extreme treble of any record and maintain outstanding tracking ability even in the inner grooves where cruder stylus shapes (including conventional elliptical designs) can suffer from some mistracking and permanent damage.In fact, when the cartridge arrived it appeared with Audio-Technica's brand name. My guess is that it is not labeled as an Audio-Technica because production is extremely limited and there is low demand so it is built specifically to LP Gear's requirements to sell.So how does it sound? It doesn't have the old "house" sound of the traditional Audio-Technica cartridges of the 70s and 80s, which is to say it doesn't have a somewhat peaky/zingy treble that results from high-end resonance. If anything, it has a slightly restrained upper midrange and a somewhat muted extreme treble. I made sure to keep the phono cable capacitance low and the total capacitance was likely under 100pF, which is lower than average and would guarantee the best chance for the extreme treble to be more prominent but the characteristic tonal balance remained.Older audiophiles may be aware that stylus tip mass as well as mechanical and electrical response shaping is involved in tailoring the tonal quality of a cartridge. The price of the cartridge is nowhere near the high-end stratosphere so an aluminum cantilever must be used as a cost restriction and this almost certainly results in a the need for some mechanical damping to reduce any response peaks. In the case of this VML cartridge, it sounds like it was combined with electrical response shaping to produce the current preference of a sense of "warmth" (slight dip in upper midrange due to possible cantilever flexing). It is somewhat laid back in presentation but the outstanding part is the ability to produce extremely solid and extended low-end response. If your music happens to have some deep bass and your speakers can reproduce it, you will hear it and feel it with a good wallop. Stereo imaging is also good. It does not exaggerate the sense of depth or space like some other cartridges do so the damping at the fulcrum may be very well-chosen to avoid spurious movement.On the other hand, if you are accustomed to, say, the sound of the Audio-Technica cartridges of the 80s to mid-90s that used the same MicroLine stylus, you will likely crave a more extended and energetic treble response. Those possessed flat/uniform response overall and were generally on the slightly (just) treble-intensive side of neutral with accurate but solid and powerful deep-bass (a result of the high-compliance design).Personally, I prefer the older MicroLine cartridge sound (think original AT-440ML). Some listeners may accuse the old cartridge of being bright but frequency response graphs will show you that it was actually close to ruler flat (much like the original Audio-Technica AT-160ML MicroLine cartridge. Some listeners will call this bright and CD-like. Technically, bright would imply a peaked high-end response so, "No", these are NOT BRIGHT.In any case, the sound of the LP Gear variant of the Audio-Technica T4P/P-Mount VML is highly listenable. There is little to fault. Its sins are of relatively minor omissions and the catering to the current desire for "warmth". Hence, the one-star deduction.

After obtaining a linear tracking turntable and refurbishing it, my next step was to look for a suitable new cartridge and stylus. After extensive searching on the web, I was disappointed to read reviews of many very good cartridges, and finding that they have been off the market for several years. LP gear has a good website and lots of useful information for turntables including owners manuals also lists of cartridges and availability. This was the best cartridge I could find and am quite satisfied with it. Like the previous review I agree low frequency may be somewhat attenuated, but does have a very warm sound. Bass is firm and mid range very realistic. Highs are not harsh like some cartridges, although not as pronounced as some cartridges I’ve owned in the past.All in all very satisfied with this cartridge and stylus.