Ortofon Concorde Cartridges

Currently using an Ortofon Super OM 30, considering trying an Ortofon Concorde style cart to ensure im getting dead on alignment. How would these DJ carts compare sound quality wise to the Super OM 30? Some are spherical, some elliptical. I know they weigh more and have a higher mv output.

http://ortofon.com/dj/products/dj-cartridges-selector

 

I don't think there is any difference between the modern concorde bodies other then the color (and of course the stylus they come with) I used a Super OM20 stylus in the blue "concorde DJ" with good results. I'm afraid I didn't have a super OM body for direct comparison however. If you were to get one, might as well get the "Pro" with the black body. That stylus would probably do a good job on worn/mono records as well.

 

I notice the top of the range Nightclub MK II elliptical has 80 um tracking ability. The stylus 30 is rated at 90 um. So this tracks better than the OM30!? Would be interesting if the cart body/internals match the sound quality of the Super OM 30.

 

I use an Ortofon Concorde with a 1mil stylus for clean original mono records and I'm very happy with it. Only thing is that the 1mil stylus is very sensitive to scratches and groove damage. But when the records are clean they sound great!

 

Like I've said, I've never used a Super OM body. I've heard people say pretty much anything that accepts an OM stylus is as good as anything else that does, and I've also heard people claim the Super OM body is definitely a cut above. The other body I used by STY20 on was the Omega body.

I'd probably be looking for the bottom of the line vs. the top of the line if you're mostly interested in the body. What makes a good DJ cartridge isn't necessarily the same attributes as what makes a good HiFi cartridge like the '30.

 

No, the OM-30 is the better tracker with it's 90 um rating vs 80 um of the Nightclub MKII. Plus the OM-30 achieves that at a much lower tracking force so it's much easier on your records. According to Kevin at www.kabusa.com, the Concorde bodies use the same generator as the Super OM bodies and you can use an OM-30 stylus on a Concorde body for perfect alignment on your Technics. And just like the Technics SL-1200, the Concordes were not originally DJ products when they were introduced decades ago. The OM-30 stylus was the standard stylus for the Concorde 30 cartridge.

 

Seems weird that the spherical tipped S-120 DJ has a 120um rating vs the OM 30's 80 um!

 

Brute force. That's 120 um at a heavy 4 grams with a spherical stylus. The OM-30 will do 90 um at 1.5 g (or even more at 1.75 g) and will spread that weight out on the groove wall with a line-contact stylus. That means no discernible record wear even after many, many plays. There aren't many commercial LPs that the OM-30 can't handle in terms of tracking. Note that the tracking ability measurement is taken at 315 Hz. It's doubtful the S-120 will track anywhere near as well as the OM-30 when it comes to upper midrange and treble content. Not to mention inner groove performance. The OM-30 and 40 styli have always been known to be great trackers up and down the spectrum while producing virtually no groove wear.

 

Sweet! Now I just have to get a cheap ortofon body and replace that stylus with the om30!

 

I would get a DJ S Concorde cart - very nice sound at 2.5g on 50s/60s/Mono records. It's easy to switch between stylii, and dial in the correct tracking force/anti-skating.

 

What does that measurement mean and how does it affect playback?