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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
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
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?
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Anyone know why sometimes you can edit a post and sometimes not???? Ain't progress grand??
$8K cart is of course what I meant.
lewm
13,130 posts
 
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.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,597 posts
 
Onhwy61,

Do you think that Ortofon will replace every Anna that is returned because the owner is not sure what's wrong but doesn't think the cartridge is working properly?

I don't.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,232 posts
 
I'm not going to speculate what Ortofon will do, but this is what I would do if I were a cartridge manufacturer in a similar situation. I would contact each registered purchaser of the cartridge and offer an explanation of what the problems with MF's review samples were. I would further offer any owner a factory review and re-certification of their cartridge at no cost. If during that review process a cartridge is determined to be out of spec or defective I would offer a free repair or replacement. For cartridges that I determined to be past their useful life due to normal wear and tear I would offer a reduced price replacement. Cartridges that I deem to have been mishandled or abused would be handled on a case by case basis.
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