The Pick it MC2 sits above the Pick it MC1 in Pro-Ject's affordable moving-coil cartridge range, bringing genuine MC performance to listeners who are ready to move beyond a standard moving-magnet pickup. Where MM cartridges have long dominated the entry-level market for reasons of cost and ease of use, MC designs offer a lighter, faster stylus and coil assembly that can resolve a wider frequency range and respond more accurately to the fine detail pressed into a record groove.
Pro-Ject's goal with the Pick it MC2 was straightforward: to make a true MC cartridge available at a price that does not require a significant system investment to justify. During the company's development of its True Balanced turntable and phono stage range, engineers recognised that the full potential of a balanced signal path could only be realised with an MC cartridge at the front end. The Pick it MC2 is the result of over eighteen months of fine-tuning, listening sessions, and sourcing work to identify the best Japanese components for the most critical parts of the design.
Construction and Design
The cartridge body is machined from a single piece of resonance-free material, designed and manufactured entirely by Pro-Ject to the company's own specification. The stylus uses an elliptical diamond mounted on an aluminium cantilever. Compared with the conical stylus geometry of the Pick it MC1, the elliptical profile makes contact with a greater area of the groove wall, recovering more high-frequency information and reducing groove wear over time. The aluminium cantilever contributes lightness and rigidity, allowing the stylus and coil assembly to move with greater accuracy.
The low electrical impedance inherent to an MC design reduces susceptibility to external interference and hum pickup compared with MM cartridges, though it requires a phono stage with a dedicated MC input and sufficient gain. The Pick it MC2's output of 0.4 mV at 1 kHz is at the higher end of the MC range, which means it will work with a broader selection of phono stages than many lower-output MC designs.
Compatibility and Setup
With a cartridge weight of around 5 grams and medium dynamic compliance of 15 micrometres per millinewton, the Pick it MC2 is suited to most entry-level and mid-level turntables with standard half-inch mount headshells. The recommended tracking force is 1.9 g, within a range of 1.7 to 2.1 g. The recommended load resistance of 50 to 200 ohms should be matched to the phono stage in use; many dedicated MC phono stages offer selectable loading to allow this to be optimised by ear.