Ortofon A90 or Air Tight PC-1

Anyone (preferably with personal experience) care to describe the similarities/differences between the A90 with the ZYX UNIverse?

recently i've been involved in some tonearm development; to be perfectly clear my 'involvement' is me watching. i own a Talea tonearm and the designer has been making some improvements. he has used my room and system to verify performance on the changes he has made. in the last month or so he has been here 3 or 4 times. he uses his own Ortofon A90. he also owns a ZYX Universe. last fall; when he first brought his original prototype Talea arm over he used the Universe.

i don't want to put any words in his mouth. but he has basically told me that the A90 is simply a better cartridge and is what he uses for his arm development now. when he first brought his Universe over i preferred my A90 in my system since we switched the two cartridges back and forth. not that the Universe is not a fine cartridge. but the back and forth on the same arm exposed the Universe as simply not as detailed or dynamic.

i have now watched him set-up the A90 maybe 20-25 times in my room.....and then we listen. the A90 on my Talea is a force of nature. on the new Talea it is mystical.

The only thing proven is that person, singular i.e. one set of ears, prefers the ortofon. Nothing more.

By no means does it make the ortofon "better".

It's strictly the listener's decision.

The "better" and/or "best" argument is really getting old.

All cartridges at that level are wonderful and most of us could live with any of them.

IMO

I don't think it's a stretch at all to suggest that a review sample was not set up to its fullest capability, when considering the known history of the Replicant 100 diamond. I also don't think it was a faulty cartridge, as the text of the review pre-print indicated what we felt were textbook SRA issues.

This is certainly not the first time this has happened - we have heard other reports of the very same performance with former models of cartridge like the MC-5000, Ortofon's flagship model back in the day of extreme-low-output cartridges. The consensus was identical - the alignment, particularly stylus rake angle, was crucial to getting the Replicant diamond to track to its fullest potential.

Ortofon is not faulting anybody at TAS for this. When your cartridge is the subject of multiple setup instructional articles in other high end publications, it is plainly evident that the cartridge requires a precise alignment job that goes beyond the average setup.

Louis/Ortofon

Ldorio

Since you represent Ortofon, can you please advise what are the recommended operating parameters to ensure you get the best out of the A90.

The manual say absolutely nothing about whether the tonearm needs to be level, raised, what the SRA is supposed to be for a replicant 100 stylus, etc.

The only thing the manual says is recommended 2.3gms tracking.

I am sure all owners of the A90 including myself will appreciate Ortofon's official setup parameters

cheers

If I am correct(if not please correct me), I believe, that like most carts the only recommendation that comes with the cart is the VTF. Every other adjustment is by ear. Although, the reviewers(HP) used a Fasgometer to set the Azimuth(It sounds like a cool tweek gadget for $250). Now, as far as the SRA is concerned, on my tt(walker black diamond) the only way I know of to adjust the SRA is with the VTA adjustment. Unless, you plan on shimming or bending something, I know of no other way. As far as I know there are no meters to test the VTA or SRA, they are adjusted by ear. Seeing that all the carts in the review were adjusted the same way for the A90 to be done incorrectly would mean that there is some special set up that has not been shared with the buyers/owners of the cart. Also this was not an "average set up". I have nothing against this cart. I hope it is a great one. The price seems reasonable and if it were as good as stated it would be a real deal. It just seem hard to imagine, with all the effort they put into this review and set up. I mean(ae written in the review), "Vertical Tracking Angle adjustment; an HP specialty". All I am saying is I would sample, research and/or test myself before buying. Or at least wait a few months to see if the follow up review comes out with an explination or a good review.