I recently bought a new turntable that came with the Ortofon 2m blue cartridge and I am not digging it. The upper mid range is pushed up and the top end is lopped off. I played about 50 lp's thru it and it's not changing. Yes I have it set up right. Can anyone suggest a replacement for this cartridge that is more neutral in the mids and doesn't lope the top end off for under $300 U.S. ? Thanks in advance.
ortofon 2m blue replacement choices
- Thread starter mightyjimbo
- Start date
Most of the internet thinks the top end is too hot with standard loading, but I have no personal experience with that particular cartridge, so don't have my own opinion what's going on. What phono stage are you using?
jeff
To modify your phono preamp is not so difficult. Mostly the input has a 47k resistor parallell between signal input and ground input. Just replace this resistor for 56k, 68k, 82k or 100k value. The higher the value the highter the high tones.
By placing a capacitor of 47 or 100pf parallell to signal input and signal ground you can influence also frequency respons. This you can do before the phono preamp.
By placing a capacitor of 47 or 100pf parallell to signal input and signal ground you can influence also frequency respons. This you can do before the phono preamp.
Could you show us some schematics for pictures showing how you accomplish this procedure
It's a fluance rt-85 turntable. Pre amp is an older Adcom 555-mk2. It sounded pretty good with a really old technics turntable and cartridge I have that finally gave out. The rt-85 turntable is really nice. No complaints there. This Ortofon blue not so much. My system is pretty resolving and this cartridge-pre amp combo is N.G. I can't get used to it. Sounds like a crappy C.D. player.
It is worth playing with the loadings, I don't know the cartridge 1st hand but they are popular on the forums. Sounds like a mismatch in there, and adjustment is more fun and less economically challenging than blind cartridge choosing. Bear in mind that the incompatibility may well remain with a new cart, only the frequency abberations may be shifted to a better/worse combo.
You need to consider the cartridge, arm wires, arm lead, and phono stage input as one system and adjust at that point. Maybe the arm lead is super high capacitance construction - litz or similar?
Check out this link where somebody is adjusting a 2m black loading:
Ortofon 2M Black - frequency response charts | Steve Hoffman Music Forums
Looks like for that body 32k ohms is a good spot, and although it's not the same body it's worth a try. So a 110k resistor soldered across the RCA socket of the input will get you there. What's to lose?
You need to consider the cartridge, arm wires, arm lead, and phono stage input as one system and adjust at that point. Maybe the arm lead is super high capacitance construction - litz or similar?
Check out this link where somebody is adjusting a 2m black loading:
Ortofon 2M Black - frequency response charts | Steve Hoffman Music Forums
Looks like for that body 32k ohms is a good spot, and although it's not the same body it's worth a try. So a 110k resistor soldered across the RCA socket of the input will get you there. What's to lose?
Call me old fashioned, but a Pickering XV15 or a Stanton 680 cartridge with a vivid line (or Shibata) stylus kills anything remotely near it's cost.
Cart: Pickering XV-15 / 625E Cartridge wiith SME type headshell NO Stylus Tested | eBay
Stylus : Pickering XV-15/1800S cartridge stylus | LP GEAR
Cart: Pickering XV-15 / 625E Cartridge wiith SME type headshell NO Stylus Tested | eBay
Stylus : Pickering XV-15/1800S cartridge stylus | LP GEAR
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mightyjimbo, just a little info for you on the RT85 that may help you.
I just setup a second cartridge tonight (Audio-Technica - AT-VM95C) for use with poor
quality records, and when I installed it the stylus was too high to touch the record.
I found an adjustment screw to lower the tonearm lifter the is located on the lifter
and just under the tone arm in it's parked position, a few turns and it lowered nicely.
.
I just setup a second cartridge tonight (Audio-Technica - AT-VM95C) for use with poor
quality records, and when I installed it the stylus was too high to touch the record.
I found an adjustment screw to lower the tonearm lifter the is located on the lifter
and just under the tone arm in it's parked position, a few turns and it lowered nicely.
.
