MP stands for Moving Pemalloy, it’s basically Nagaoka’s version of MI, it uses a nickel/iron alloy instead of just iron, which accounts for a tiny bit less mass than traditional MI.
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Here we agree. 
. And I have posted the same elsewhere above.
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It’s not because you prefer the Nd7 to your past Hana SL that MC are not generally better.
You have just chosen the wrong MC cart for your liking. Put now a Lyra Kleos SL for instance, and I would be surprised that you still prefer your Nd7.
As for the RB600 arm, I would not put a Lyra Kleos or Van den Hull Colibri on it, but would first upgrade the deck.
I too however would buy a good MM instead of a surupy Koetsu. So you are not alone.
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Yes Sorry I probably miss read your comments about the RB 600 as they were in the context of an expensive M.C on a P6 RB 600 .And a M.C merits a better deck than a P6 .
Your comments about some expensive M.Cs can be too polite is also true..like the Koetsu.
My Hana ML was definitely very warm and airy highs and transparent mids good taut bass.
All the hifi tick boxes .But it was so polite and conservative..it was a bit lifeless.
Great on classical music but not exciting engagement with Rock music.
The Rega has this vibrancy and engagement.
Having said that theres so many brands of moving coils I have never heard and the Lyra you mentioned.I haven’t and the Lyra Clavis I had about 30 years ago was a stunner ..like a lot of us I suppose .So you are right
Warm regards Ian
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A good MC cart with a matching phono amp can result in something magical. A poor matching can be worse than a good MM.
As a LP12 user since 1986, i just stick to the Linn approach.
It’s moving permalloy. Technically the same as MI, where both coil and magnet are fixed, just a different metal. Usually more magnetically permeable (hence the name). This means you can make it lighter, but also more susceptible to interference. Of course all depending on the exact alloy.
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A year ago, I took part in a demonstration of Audiotechnica MM and MC cartridges with an Audio Technica AT-LP8X turntable and Rega ARIA MK3 phono preamplifier. All the styluses were adaptable to the same 700 series cartridge.
The hierarchy began with:
- Conical stylus glued to the cantilever,
- Elliptical stylus glued,
- Nude elliptical stylus (encased)
- ML (Microline) stylus
- Shibata stylus
- SLC stylus (Special Line Contact)
At each stage, the improvement was clearly noticeable. Between stylus 4 and stylus 5, the differences depended on individual preferences and the type of music. Stylus 4, with its swing, was better suited to rock and jazz, while the Shibata played classical music with finesse and airiness.
Stylus 6 further expanded the soundstage by combining the qualities of stylus 4 and 5.
The most notable difference came with an MC AT ART9 XA: the dimension, resolution, transparency and involvement are a step above the Audiotecnica MMs, which are already excellent in their own right.
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I have many customers using MM cartridges with their high level LP12s. Indeed the most popular MMs here are the AT TrigBs. I think for a balanced perspective on this, you’d need to look beyond the confines of this group. It’s also fair to say that with lower cost MCs, the AT OC9XSL with the TrigB body modification are very popular too. They also have very well designed stylus covers which for many as we get older is a very important factor, second only to sound quality. No hypnosis, no marketing, just listen and be happy, just like Skeptikal here has commented.
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Skeptikal.
Once you have listened to the new vmn60xSL stylus with boron, please let us know what differences you noticed.
Plug here for the Krystal stylus cover. Easy to remove and attach
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I have long been a user by preference of MC cartridges. However, there are some excellent MM ones too. In modern times the Rega ND range has proven how good they can be.
I do not necessarily agree that lower priced MCs are poor compared to MM equivalents. For instance the Hana EL MC is excellent and hard to beat by anything at the price.