Ortofon MC A90 cartridge

Lew,

tomorrow i will have a used Ortofon Jubilee to play with for a little while. i'll install it on the Technics and see how it plays with the big (and bigger) boys.

Lew, i agree we don't want to start an arguement. one gets into the cost of diminishing returns of performance and who cares enough to justify it. it applies to just about anything one might want to talk about....and that process is an unwinnable endeaveor.

Mike,

I used to own a jubilee and while it did little wrong, more importantly it did little right for me in my system.

It is now being thoroughly enjoyed by an audio buddy with my old VPI HRX that I sold him.

It will be interesting how you feel it performs in your system.

BTW, the A90 sounds equally as good (maybe better) on my Exclusive P3 as it does on the raven AC3.

Funny, I also have another A90 reserved from the next shipment in early Feb, so I have some more time to play with my tables and see if my delight dimms any in that time.

cheers

Lew / Axel

I guess you are telling me I should take my Ortofon M20FL Super out of its Thakker box and have a listen to it. It is looking ignored and neglected at the moment.

I will do that over the Xmas period and report back.

JFrench

comparisons - hmmm - always difficult. My dyna XV-1 has been my reference for quite a while now.

In my system the A90 seems to have an uncanny ability to easily differentiate musical and recorded differences more from album to album. This is also the case even from track to track differences more than any other cartridge I have heard.
It always does this with control,poise and an eveness without any frequency spotlighting or other obvious downsides. The A90 is sounding more like my system and its voicing than a cartridge - which is what I luv.

That the A90 can sound absolutely wonderful on a current Raven AC3/Phantom combo, but equally well on a 30 year old Exlusive P3 DD table says something.

The dyna in comparison has a signature sound that you hear from album to album. Listening to the dyna in isolation you would not really think that.

I really think Ortofon are onto something special with their unique SLM manufacturing process to make the cartridge body.

Mike is buying another A90 and I am almost at the same decision point, so I guess you know how we feel :-)

Mike, I did not wish to play that game of value for money. I actually think that the M20FL Super is delightful in its own rite/right/wright (never knew which form was correct for this phrase). Just consider it as another cartridge, if you get a chance to listen to one. In fact, since I have two, one of which is still in its box, I would be willing to lend you one of mine. My first one sounded excellent right out of the box but got much better after 2-4 hours and a couple of tours of the Cardas test LP.

I know nothing about the Jubilee; that's another kettle of fish. I suspect that the MC7500 is superior to the Jubilee, but I have no data to support that idea.