The 2m black will need to be properly adjusted to get the most from it with shibata stylus. If you cannot adjust both your stylus rake angle and azimuth properly you will be wasting your money. If your confident in adjusting those 2 parameters and overhang with tacking force. You will hear a difference.
Want to upgrade my cartridge from 2m blue to black
My first post here on the forums and I needed an honest opinion. I have a cheap music hall mmf 2.2 turntable with 2m blue installed. I like the sound but was wondering if I can get better details from upgrading to a black cartridge on my basic turntable. Would it be worth it? I’m definitely an analog lover but am budget constrained. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
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The OP's turntable Music Hall 2.2 is almost like Pro-Ject Debute Carbon designed for use with Ortofon 2M Blue or Red, those turntables suplied by the manufacturer with Ortofon cartridge as optimum and cost effective solution. It's a low budget turntable. There is absolutely no need to change a turntable if the OP would like to upgrade it right now, all he need is just spare stylus with better profile, that's it. The stylus from Ortofon Black can be used with his Ortofon Blue cartridge. It's not a problem to make perfect alignment of any cartridge on this turntable/tonearm. I did that for a friend, but his choice for upgrade was Stanton 881s mkII (much better than any Ortofon MM). It was huge upgrade in quality compared to Ortofon Red. Some posters should really turn on the common sense here P.S. I told my friend that he could sell his Pro-Ject in the future to buy more expensive Technics DD, but he's just fine with his Pro-Ject and the music sound good in his system, there is nothing wrong with that types of turntables for people who don't want or not ready to buy a better and more expensive turntable. They are happy to spend more on the records. |
The cartridge for the red and blue stylus is the same. The cartridge for the orange and black is the same but different and an upgrade to the red/blue cartridge. An orange and black stylus will fit into the blue cartridge but you will not get the best performance from that cartridge. I had a Music Hall 2.2 and installed the orange and it was great...still have it for my Prime. I suggest you get the orange now it will be a noticeable improvement and then later you can just replace the stylus to the black either for your 2.2 or a new turntable that you will most likely get in the future. |
No, the Ortofon black stylus cannot be used with the blue cartridge body. This according to the Ortofon website. They list two swaps for the blue cartridge stylus; one is the 2M silver. I can't recall the other one but it wasn't the black. The site plainly states on the detail page for bronze and black cartridges that those styli are swappable. The detail page for the blue cartridge does not show the black being able to fit the blue body. If you want to take a chance on ruining a nearly six hundred dollar stylus, go for it. |
Common sense is that a good table with an entry level cartridge will sound better than an entry level table with a good cartridge. You could get a pretty nice second hand turntable for the $755 the 2m black would cost and put the blue on it or more than likely find a turntable with a similar quality cartridge already on it. I did a lot of upgrades to My Music Hall 2.2. The acrylic platter, a speed box, a nagaoka MP 500 cartridge. At the end of the day my music hall 5.1 with a $50 AT95 cartridge sounded better. Not that the 2.2 is a bad turntable, it's not. I still have mine and enjoy it in another system. My read of the original poster was that they have a limited budget and want to get the best sound quality. The money they are considering spending on a cartridge upgrade would be better spent on a decent turntable. They could spend less and have better sound quality by replacing the turntable instead of the cartridge. A note of caution is that the wires on the tonearm on the 2.2 are very flimsy and break easily. |
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