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Originally posted by Acid John ive heard that there is one possible problem with concordes... i dont own concorde carts, but not too long ago, i heard that there was a small problem with the way it screws onto the tone-arm... because of this, channels can drop out sometime, and there are only two ways to fix it... either wet the connections on the back of the cart (which will corrode the ends). or really crank it onto the tonearm, which will eventully strip the tone arm. i dont know if ortofon has fixed things since then (i assume so) or if it was even that commom of a problem. but i guess it isnt that big of a problem, because so many people swear by them...

Yeah ur right.... Ortofons do tend to build up crap on the contacts of the tts, so you just have to use an eraser to get it off. My buddie had that same problem yesterday, so i had him use the eraser and it worked .. Either way, they are excellent carts.

The main thing that concerns me about the whitelabels is that youve seen many ppl say that they got a defective cart right out of the box. I dont like dealiing with quality control issues on expensive items, because you don't know how their long term durability stands.

Ortofons have been around for years and they have proven to perhaps offer the best high end dj mixing carts (referring to Nightclub seriese).

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Originally posted by Teraform ok i've read what everybody said....and yes telling my to buy a certain kind is quite confusing because their is so many out their to choose from... now what i also got was that all carts have needles with them...so i am guess buy perchasing needles i am just perchasing needles for carts that need new needles on them.....right? so for now im going to go with something not to pricy....untill i can afford to buy the things that are better in some ways...but thats beside the point.... anyway thanxs for all your help....

well a lot of people use the terms "cart" or "cartridge" and "needles" interchangeably. this shouldn't be the case. the cart is the main body that screws into the headshell or in the case of the all in one, concord style it screws right into the tone arm. the needle is the stylus. it's the part that has the actual needle and it slides into the cart. when you buy new a cart it comes with at least one stylus so you don't have to worry about buying them separate. when the actual needle is worn out then you just simply buy a new stylus, pop the old one off and the new one on. there are two type of stylus. there is the spherical and there is the elliptical. the tip of a spherical is actually a rounded like a sphere. it's best for scratching but can be used just fine for mixing and most dj setups use spherical. the elliptical stylus is more oblong in shape like an oval. it has more surface contact with the groove of the vinyl and tends to provide a brighter more accurate sound. it's used primarily for mixing but there are maybe two "scratch" carts that use an elliptical stylus but they aren't really taken seriously. if you're just going to mix then you can go with either spherical or elliptical but if you're going to scratch at all you should probably stick with a spherical stylus. cheers.

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just a word of advise. since you stated that you're a beginner and that you're going to go with something that's not so pricey, i would suggest you go with a stanton 500 series cart. they're inexpensive, they'll do the job just fine and they're tough. they'll last a long time. there are better cats out there for sure but the 500 is probably the best bang for the buck, especially for a beginner.

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i've heard the nightclubs sound crap in comparsion to the grado... but you'll have to shell out for the dj200 if you want better tracking... the dj100 will sound better than the nightclubs.. but the tracking isn't great from what i read.

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I started out with teh cheapest Stanton 500's, and learned teh basic with them. they worked fine for my purposes. I just bought a pair of Whitelabels, and they live up to the hype, and then some. the sound quality is so noticeable, that when I switch back to my shitty carts I cringe at the sound. Those are teh only two types of carts I have ever used. but when I went to Guitar Center to get them, I was originally gonna get teh Nightclubs, but teh guys workign there literally forced me to get teh Whitebales cause they are so damn good. Couldn't be happier.