Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site


In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: The Softer Side of a Hard-Tracing Cartridge
Post Subject: 6th SensePosted by Paul S on: 5/27/2009
fiogf49gjkf0d
Adrian, I am cynical enough to take seriously news of QC issues from any manufacturer.  I heard about sagging cantilevers with the 3000, way back when, but went ahead, and it worked out for me.  But I would certainly do my homework before I shelled out that kind of money.  Hard to tell with Ortofon, who seem to be trying to bone up on the "consumer" front, and no doubt this entails more outsourcing, etc.  I no longer have the connections to determine whether the top of the line stuff is still made, assembled and tested in Denmark (not that this, in and of itself, means a hill of beans...).

Another consideration with any LO MC is that it needs a step-up transformer, and IMO the "universal step-up" is suggested a good deal more often than it is realized.  Ortofon used to have a "companion" step-up for each of their top 4 cartridges: the 2000, 3000, 5000 and 7500.  I am not sure, but I think they may have scuttled these, as well, in their efforts to standardize and solidify their mainstream operations.

Juki is honorable and he might have any of this stuff (or he won't...) at a substantial savings; but I am not sure about the factory warranty if you bypass the high-dollar gate keepers.  OTOH, you could use Romy's technique and negotiate the best price from a dealer and then just keep after it until you wind up with what you want.  After all, mediocraty is the only sure thing in audio, at any price.

Anyway, the point of the post was really to remind that a step-up tranny needs to be considered as part of the LO MC cartridge.  Also, one has to recognize and move on a good thing, since the opportunity to do so may not come along again.  It almost requires a sixth sense.

Best regards,
Paul S

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site