Fremer's review of the Anna cartridge

So would you feel better, or at least less upset, if the manufacturer had tested and hand selected the cartridge in a manner not available to normal purchasers?

Whether the cartridge cost $10k or $100 it should be functional and meet its specs right out of the box. The unfortunate reality is that this minimal condition is not always met. Mercedes cars do get recalled, your $10 million custom home can have HVAC issues and Boeing spent $32 billion developing and testing the 787 Dreamliner and still had electric problems when the jet was put in service. Since things can go wrong the real issue then becomes how do companies deal with in service design problems. According to the MF review Ortofon replaced the cartridge. The fact that they had to provide a replacement twice is downright embarrassing, but as a consumer what more can you ask the company to do? There are details missing in the review, but I would want Ortofon to provide a prompt replacement, at no cost and with little or no questions. If that's the case, then Ortofon acted in a classy manner.

If I was an owner of an Anna and I read the review I would be disturbed. I'd contact my dealer and Ortofon and get a detailed explanation of what the problem is and whether my cartridge was effected. I probably send it back Ortofon to have them inspect my cartridge, at their cost.

If I didn't own an Anna and I read the review, I'd think what does any of that have to do with me?

Dear Onhwy61: I think that could exist a potential problem with all the Anna cartridge samples ( especially the early ones. ):

for the cartridge customers that buy every new pricey cartridge every " new kid on the block ) could be not a problem because with the next new cartridge they bought the Anna goes to the closets or to other second hand buyer but the ones that normally put over 3-4K hours in a cartridge could be that the problem showed on the MF review can repeat over the time over several hours of playback. No one knows if this could or not happen and if I were an Anna owner then as you say I will ask to Ortofon for an inspection or and extended warranty time in case that rpoblem comes again.

I love Ortofon cartridges and own or owned/heard almost all top different cartridge series to A90. In the past as I posted at begin of this thread Ortofon marketed an overall new cartridge design that was the great MC 2000 that came with problems in suspension and the stylus glue on the cantilever: suddenly the stylus unglued with out reason. This happened sometimes at the first playback hours and sometimes after several playback hours and that's why I said that could exist a potential trouble down there for the Anna owners.

Pity that this happened with a so old and well regarded everywhere cartridge builders as Ortofon. Like all of you posted all is Ortofon own culprit and IMHO there is no excuse for what happened.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

So would you feel better, or at least less upset, if the manufacturer had tested and hand selected the cartridge in a manner not available to normal purchasers?

First of all, there are plenty of audio manufacturers who test/burn-in EVERY product they ship. Carts, electronics, speakers. For a flagship product that is basically handmade, the consumer has every right to expect that. If I were in the market for an $8 cart or a $40,000 amp I'd demand it. At those stratospheric MSRP price points (assuming street price is also at the very top end), I'd want the reviewer's sample and mine to be virtually identical. It's not like people are lined up out the door waiting to snatch these things off the shelf! Or maybe that's what the line of Saudi princes I saw when I was in NY for the show last month was all about?

Anyone know why sometimes you can edit a post and sometimes not???? Ain't progress grand??
$8K cart is of course what I meant.

Raul, I was in the home of another audiophile last week, to audition his huge horn system; with mammoth horn woofers, the multi-way speaker takes up half his listening room. His cartridge was a special Audio Note Io that has field coil magnets (i.e., the magnet is an electro-magnet that must be separately energized). $10K, if you can find one, since they are discontinued. Anyway, during the course of listening to 3-4 LPs, the sound suddenly went very sour, and upon close inspection the owner found that the stylus had come off the cantilever of his Io. Either the glue failed (if the stylus was glued) or the press fit failed due to fatigue. He never lost his cool, however, because, he said, he has another such Io, NOS. I would have been tearing my few remaining hairs out of my head. It takes grande cojones to be a high-end consumer.