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Ortofon A90 broken stylus

So the long and short. I purchased one of the 1st A90 carts to come up for sale on Agon. This was about 10 months ago, was in great condition, all factory packing, box etc. Then in Feb. I put on a disk and let down the the arm - the cart just slid across the record - OS batman - as looked at the A 90 - no stylus, it had broken off at the body. Nothing was left. Called for help and got a hold of Louis - Ortofon in Ossining NY. He said to send it in and he would send this to Denmark for review and probably would have to pay 50% to rebuild. So I have been waiting for the past months and a box comes from Ortofon. I opened and here was my A 90 - all rebuilt and a packing slip - Warranty, fully rebuilt. Thank you Ortofon!!!!
brucedan
brucedan OP
16 posts
 
Macdadtexas - as to the shielding - I really cannot answer, But from experience, I had a VPI TNT 3.5 for several years. I had an issues with hum and static when I was using the Maestro Wood cart ( Wood body like your Grado?) - called Mike at VIP and he said since this was a wood body, I had a grounding issue with the main bearing as the arm was metal, the bearing/shaft was metal, but the plinth is acrylic. So I bonded the shaft by just running a 24g wire, tyewrap the stripped wire to the bearing shaft and ran to my grounding post - all issues where gone. The A90 is composed of particles of stainless steel welded together, layer by layer so this is a totally different animal
Hope this helps. And yes to all - Ortofon is 1st rate!

Bruce
wrm57
1,048 posts
 
Brucedan, congrats on your restored A90. You will love it. Ortofon customer service is the best. When I first received my A90, it seemed to convey an usual amount of groove noise in the right channel. Louis, the USA distributor, immediately had me send it to him, and he sent it on to Denmark. The designer himself put it on the bench, tweaked it in mysterious ways, and then certified it as, in his words, "a perfect example of the A90." And perfect it is--the noise is gone and the sound is absolutely superlative. I love manufacturers like Ortofon who strand behind their products and go the extra mile. Cheers!
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
All cartridge manufacturers I know do the rebuild service. But they charge money for it. When Ortofon made it for free, great.
brucedan OP
16 posts
 
Wrm57, so you worked with Louis - very nice guy, he even emailed me when he received my A90 to tell me it was off to Denmark. Question - what loading are you using, I have the Manley Steelhead as my phono amp with a Phantom arm. My scale is 25 - 400 ohm and I am now running this at 25 as this seems to give a more delicate soundstage. I thought 100 was the normal setting for MC but at that level it is more muted.

Regards
Bruce
wrm57
1,048 posts
 
I'm using 100 ohms at 60 db of gain on my Steelhead II/Phantom II combo. It's right on for my system. VTF is 2.25g and VTA is just a hair above level. I tried all the Fremeresque raised-tail recommendations posted here, in fine gradations up to extremely high, and just couldn't get it to sound right. Then I read a posted email from the A90 designer who said, in response to a query on A90 VTA, that all Ortofon carts are designed for level-arm VTA. I figured, since that's the guy who checked out my cartridge and said it's right on spec, I'll try the specified parameters. Level or just slightly above level, indeed, is right for my A90. The sound is open, airy, palpable, and dynamic with great bass. I love this cartridge.
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