Fremer's review of the Anna cartridge


Fremer reviews the $8499 cartridge very positively, but it takes three different samples of the cartridge for him to get there. The first sample exhibited "an incompatibility between the adhesives used and the elastomer of which the cartridge's damper is made." Fremer notes "[e]vidently, however, this problem didn't affect every Anna that left the factory." Wow, what a relief. In the second sample, apparently "some the glue that secures the stylus in the cantilever had dripped." The third sample, after 100 hrs of break-in finally delivered. Fremer suggests buying and using an USB microscope as part of the cartridge buying process.

Does anyone else think this is absolutely nuts? It seems to me, at this price level, every single cartridge should be absolutely perfect. Haven't Ortofon heard of quality control? This also applies to Lyra whose $9500 Atlas cartridge had the stylus affixed to the cantilever at an angle that made it virtually impossible to get the SRA of 92 degrees.
actusreus
Actusreus, if there wasn't an issue with faulty components would you be placing an order for an Anna?
My rebulit A90 will arrive from Ortofon within a few days. I'm going to inspect it very carefully.
Onhwy61
Actusreus, if there wasn't an issue with faulty components would you be placing an order for an Anna?

How is this relevant to the discussion? Who in this thread is placing an order for an Anna?

This is a cutting edge product reaching for state of the art performance ...

Interesting how easy any product gets such merits.
All it needs is a high price and most fall onto their knees?

Ortofon is probably the largest cartridge manufacturer in the world

Quantity is not Quality and Ortofon is mainly known for low price Systems. But time will tell how good it really is. The A-90 was transformed from a hyped swan to a duck after 1000h. Great Design indeed.
Fremer's a character, and his review is sort of a "comedy classic" for all the reasons described above. I have no idea how many extreme high end cartridges are sold but even in the Serious Audiophile world I assume very few...so it's all irrelevant to me anyway except for entertainment value...I feel the analog "state of the art" resides in great sounding cartridges that cost a lot less than my motorcycle.