Classic Ortofon Cartridges: The MC2000 MK II or the MC3000 MK II?


So I have owned quite a few Otofon cartridges over the years, everything from the modest OM cartridges to a couple of Cadenza up to an A90. I typically enjoy Ortofon cartridges.

Now one I have never owned is the MC2000. It seems from a bit of reading I have done that owners of the MC2000 felt it was the most accurate of the Ortofon cartridges, and that releases after it were not its equal.

However, when you look at the MC3000 it has a higher output level that would allow it to work with my Esoteric phono stage. The Esoteric is happy running an MC200 on it which has .09 mV output. but the MC2000 is .05 mV. The MC 3000 MK II is .13 mV from what I find.

Has anyone spent time listening to these classic MC 000 series of Ortofon cartridges? I know there is also a 5000 and 7500, but those seem to be pretty rare.

Regarding the MC2000, I wonder if I use a low mass headshell if I can use it on the Dynavector DV505. I don’t think the mass of the arm in the horizontal plane should affect it, and the vestigial arm can be configured to be an appropriate match for the compliance on this cartridge.

I currently have an MC200u on the arm and its very surprising regarding how good it sounds. Its actually pretty neutral, pretty expressive, but just a bit relaxed in the top end. I certainly enjoy it, but I wonder how these statement cartridges from the classic Ortofon line will sound. These would have been from their long time designer who has now retired, so its a different era of Ortofon versus what their current offerings are. Even though we should acknowledge that the current cartridges use design principals that were developed from this earlier time period and engineering team. 

Thoughts?
neonknight


I do think it's a bit better at 2.2g.
 

it would be enough to use an excellent test disk and check how it responds and if it tracks well on the fifth side band
 

Yeah, don't think I own one, but I might.  Usually I am not one for test LPs. My question is really why, not whether it sounds good, although it does.

Again, if you use MC 2000 at 2.2 grams or more, you’ll probably destroy the suspension. The recommended tracking force for MC 2000 is 1.5 grams.

Dear @lewm  : You must follow the cartridge manufacturer advise on VTF and any opther set up parameter.

 

The higher VTF range in Ortofon cartridges vs other cartridge models is nothing to worried about because Ortofon knows what it does and everything is prefectly calculated for.

 

2.2grs. is out of question for the MC 2000. @edgewear is rigth on that.

 

R.

Raul and Edgeware you are correct and I was wrong in stating that 2.2g to 2.7g was the range of VTF for the MC2000. I was reading a table for the MC2000mkII when I got the info believing it to be for the MC2000. It seemed incorrect to me too, and I just double checked my source and found my error, only to get on line here and find that you’d already corrected me. Thanks for that. I’ve been tracking the MC2000 at 1.6g anyway. The MC2000 is also much higher in compliance than the MC7500, which also jibes with my memory. Whereas the MC2000mkII is about the same as the MC7500 in compliance.