Ortofon SPU Century, time to celebrate the heritage?

The GOLD Reference series is from 1989, the Royal GM is from 1998
The Royal G MKII with Replicant 100 is the later/improved version of that first Royal.  

But thanks for pointing me to the stylus tip of the Gold, i thought Royal G mkII is the only one with Replicant 100 

When i bought that Classic GM i had ZYX Airy cartridge and SPU was a garbage compared to ZYX, i was expecting "musicality and so on", but in fact it was just rolled off sound, not interesting at all to my ears. 

I can not say it about Spirit LTD or Royal G mkII which i enjoyed on Lustre GST-801 tonearm.

I am not expert in SPU, Ortofon made so many models to hook up SPU lovers forever. Smart marketing! I think any SPU over $2K is a rip-off. 

@chakster, smart marketing for sure. The trophy hunters just love 'limited editions'. And in my opinion ANY cartridge over $2k is a rip off, not just SPU's. I must admit I'm guilty of paying a bit more than that on a few occasions, but I draw the line at $2.5k.

After all, how much 'stuff' is in there to justify current pricing tactics? And how much R&D time can still be 'invested' to a technology that is basically unchanged in over 50 years?

The obscene pricing for MC's - like all things in high end audio - in recent years is disgraceful and it is unfortunate that even Ortofon has now joined this trend. So perhaps we should concentrate on past achievements instead and figure out which of these stand out from the crowd.

A fool and his money are soon parted. 

A bargain compared to the $16K Grado!

The trophy hunters just love 'limited editions'. And in my opinion ANY cartridge over $2k is a rip off, not just SPU's. I must admit I'm guilty of paying a bit more than that on a few occasions, but I draw the line at $2.5k.

In my opinion, I cannot disagree more.  Declaring "ANY" phono cartridge over $2k is a rip off is rather like saying any digital playback source, amp, preamp, cables, turntable, loudspeaker over $(insert arbitrary number)k is a rip off.  So many factors come into play when assembling a system for real musical synergy, nothing is that black and white.    

When the Ortofon MC Century arrives, even if it does not meet my already high expectations, or if for any reason it's playback characteristic "flavor" is quite not to my liking within my personal system and room, then the piece will be sold, plain and simple.  And this of course would not automatically mean the cartridge is "bad" or a "rip off", in fact I will remain grateful to have had the rare fortune and opportunity to own such a world class phono cartridge from a company dedicated to analog who's legacy spans some 100 years.  This is a hobby to celebrate music, albeit an expensive one but so enjoyable nevertheless.