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Ortofon A90 review.... wrong choice of gear

Hi all

Just had a QUICK read of the new Feb issue of HiFi World which was sent to me by a good friend. Why I ask myself?
I was interested in what they thought about the new Ortofon A90 MC. I own one like many other folk. It's a great cartridge and without being totally biased probably the best I have heard but then it is expensive. I also own a PW Windfeld which is the next model down and fortunately the reviewer compared the 2 cartridges... should make for a great and riveting read.

I read through the review and saw that he did not feel the differences between the 2 cartridges we large. I was really surprised because in my system the differences are MASSIVE! I continued to read on..... then he says that if you are using an Icon Audio phonostage it's not bad but it sounds better with a Graham Slee.

Question.

Who on earth would spend $4000 on a cartridge and use a basic $900 phono stage? Most of the folks I know that own cartridges above $2000 use phono stages that can get the most of their cartridge. It's no wonder the reviewer could not tell the difference between the 2 cartridges. If he had used a better phono stage and system he would have had half a chance of actually hearing the qualities of the cartridges. A hifi dealer would have told the guy... ' I wouldn't recommend you use a $4000 with such mediocre gear'....

Anyways, that is the state of play in this magazine, I can't imagine the manufacturer and distributor were that happy about it.
robm1
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
Forget about the price of the cartridge. In my opinion the phono stage is THE most important part of the analogue chain. I would be far happier with a $4000 phono stage and a $900 cartridge then the other way around. But mate a $4000 cartridge with that $4000 phono stage and you will see what both are really capable of.

Of course, price is not the sole factor here - just making a point. Better equipment tends to cost more and is generally not fully appreciated until you pair it with equipment up to the same level of merit.
robm1 OP
28 posts
 
I think I haven't quite put the point across properly.

How can you find out how good the A90 is by playing it into a cheap phono stage. It's a bit like running a Mercedes C63 and using 92RON and cheap tyres. You just won't get the best out of it.

I'm not saying you need to spend $4000 on a phono stage but what I am saying is that to REVIEW a $4000 cartridge through a $900 phono stage is plain wrong - you'll never really know what the cartridge is REALLY like.
lloydc's avatar
lloydc
761 posts
 
does anyone recommend splurging on the cartridge, with such relatively mediocre gear upstream? was a tt and arm adequate to the task used?
carlos269
75 posts
 
Robm1,
Everything that you say/type would be logical and would make perfect sense, such as your Mercedes/tire analogy, if the prices of high-end audio equipment were directionally proportional to their performance but that is just not the case in many instances. Prices for high-end audio equipment have in most cases become rather arbitrary with no correlation to their actual performance or built costs. This is all part of the "Great Audiophile Swindle" that many on this forum have fallen prey to. It was a totally different story in the high-end in the 80's when prices WERE directionally proportional with both performance and built costs for the most part, you always had marketing types like Mark Levinson then for overinflated prices but in general you got what you paid for back then; now that is usually not the case.
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
You are right, it makes no sense at all. I am using a $8000 + table, a $2200 separate phono stage and I paid no more than $400 of any of the cartridges I use. The Slee is not as good as my back up Dynavector 75 -2. The phono stage is going to limit the performance of the cartridge and if one cartridge is already better than the phono stage then a better one will make no improvement. The system is no better than its weakest link, which in this case is the Slee. When HIFICRITIC tested a group of expensive cartridges they used an Audio Note AN-S4 transformer into 3 different high end phono stages to get a broad view of the performance of the products being tested. This test is entirely useless. The Slee is not bad but its use here is entirely out of place.
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