Where do you see lots of cartridges with pitting and oxidation in Japan? Have you been there, and have you toured the various audio stores where used gear is sold? I’m just wondering. In my experience really good quality used audio equipment has generally been very well cared for by Japanese owners. Much of the stuff looks like new. I have seen some equipment on HIFIDO that does look the worse for wear, but my personal experience touring in Tokyo is quite the opposite. Anyway, buying any used cartridge is a crapshoot for sure. You’d like to know who owned it and what kind of person he or she was. Also, although the big cities like Tokyo do get very humid in summer, air conditioning is common everywhere you go. So I don’t know why one would expect cartridges to be rusting out, any more then you’d expect in Miami for example.
Classic Ortofon Cartridges: The MC2000 MK II or the MC3000 MK II?
Now one I have never owned is the MC2000. It seems from a bit of reading I have done that owners of the MC2000 felt it was the most accurate of the Ortofon cartridges, and that releases after it were not its equal.
However, when you look at the MC3000 it has a higher output level that would allow it to work with my Esoteric phono stage. The Esoteric is happy running an MC200 on it which has .09 mV output. but the MC2000 is .05 mV. The MC 3000 MK II is .13 mV from what I find.
Has anyone spent time listening to these classic MC 000 series of Ortofon cartridges? I know there is also a 5000 and 7500, but those seem to be pretty rare.
Regarding the MC2000, I wonder if I use a low mass headshell if I can use it on the Dynavector DV505. I don’t think the mass of the arm in the horizontal plane should affect it, and the vestigial arm can be configured to be an appropriate match for the compliance on this cartridge.
I currently have an MC200u on the arm and its very surprising regarding how good it sounds. Its actually pretty neutral, pretty expressive, but just a bit relaxed in the top end. I certainly enjoy it, but I wonder how these statement cartridges from the classic Ortofon line will sound. These would have been from their long time designer who has now retired, so its a different era of Ortofon versus what their current offerings are. Even though we should acknowledge that the current cartridges use design principals that were developed from this earlier time period and engineering team.
Thoughts?
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Dear @neonknight : I 'm surprised that you like it the 5000 that's of all ooo series is the worst one but your system and priorities are diferent from mine and could be that you want to have all those Ortofon series. The 7500 is better but not exiting/emotional.
R. |
@lewm As an example. This MC2000 looks fine till you get to the last image. The close up shows pitting. I have been to Japan twice and the shops are nice, but I am not flying over to make the purchase of a cartridge. I am kind of dependent on the online international selling sites. I also try to avoid gear from costal sites, as you can often aww signs of oxidation.
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@rauliruegas I have not listened to it yet, it is bought and being shipped from the UK. I like the MC3000 MK II, and my understanding is this is the same cartridge with gemstone cantilever. Past experiences have shown I like ruby and sapphire cantilevered cartridges as a whole, so there is a good chance I like this one, especially for a casual use cartridge. I do not expect it to surpass my better cartridges, but for $900 I should get a lot of hours of enjoyment out of it. |
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