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

I looked at those two MC2000 on eBay, and they do have issues with cantilevers. One also has surface corrosion. That unfortunately seems to be a common occurrence with audio goods from Japan. Neither one is of interest. I imagine obtaining a properly operating MC2000 is going to be difficult. I suspect I will go another direction.

Ortofon is Danish company, generally Japan is the wrong place to look for cartridges made in Europe. 

Japan is the right place to look for cartridges made in Japan. 

Cartridges are small, and therefore easy to ship. 

I once and once only put out a Search for a Cartridge in Europe and was for multiple Months approached by scammers, sending ID Images and demanding a Payment.
For fun, I inquired if a deal could be done on the Tonearm in the image, amazingly it was on offer as well.
When I informed the administration of the Portal, they were extremely helpful and suggested I use another Site if I am not satisfied.

I have not suffered anything like this when importing from Japan.
Lots of Images, and if not trialled or not wanted to be in a dispute, the Item will be declared as Junk.
From my experience, a Purchaser will be quite clear about the Vendors offer and a informed decision can be made.

Again Caveat Emptor 

I agree with the general rule that Japan is the best place to look for cartridges made in Japan, but Ortofon might be an exception. Their products are and always have been very popular in Japan and they sold many there, especially SPU’s.

Most has already been said about MC2000. My sample came from the personal collection of a UK importer and was very sparingly used. So not NOS, but pretty close. I was apprehensive about the ridiculously low output, but in practice I can make it work without a hint of noise on both an Ortofon T3000 SUT and Boulder 1008 phono amp, both with total line level gain of 70dB. The sound is a benchmark of neutrality and it’s probably the best tracker I have in house.

The high compliance is probably the main reason the MC2000 sounds so good (and tracks so well) and generally considered quite a challenge in terms of tonearm synergy. Again I had my doubts, because my system and tonearms are tailored to low output, low impedance AND low compliance cartridges. But again in practice it turned out easy to work with. In a lightweight headshell it even works spendidly in a heavy gun like FR64S with the lighter W170 counterweight. For the record, the lightweight original MC2000 headshell was in silver and made of magnesium, but these didn’t survive the times very well. My sample and all others I’ve seen have what I’d call ’bleeding’, a kind of disintegrating of the material, including the threads that are supposed to hold the cartridge. Mine is useless, but I found a later black version of this headshell (also on chakster’s photo) that works perfectly.

The MC7500 was the first ever cartridge with titanium body and has 0,13mV output from 8N copper coils (unique as far as I know) and again a tapered aluminum cantilever with Ortoline stylus (not the Replicant 100, as in MC3000 and MC5000). And if you think the packaging of the MC2000 is lavish, think again and compare it with the leather handbag that came with MC7500. Even my wife, who normally doesn’t give a ’.....’ about my audio hobby, was impressed!

Although more congenial in terms of specs, the MC7500 is actually much more difficult to get right. You’ll need a headshell with azimuth adjustment (preferably the dedicated LH7500). The reason is very likely to be the stylus profile, which is unique (4x100 um instead of 5x100um of Replicant 100). But when you do get it right, I would rank it ever so slightly over the MC2000. It has the same kind of neutrality, but with a bit more detail (the stylus profile?) and a bit more slam (copper coils instead of silver coils?). Both are very special cartridges that can still compete head on with A90, A95 or even MC Anna.