Ortofon OM10 disappointment

I bought an Ortofon OM10 for my GFs Dual 1257 TT. It replaced an Audio Technics Precept 220 cartridge. I thought the cartridge was bad, found out the wiring had a poor connection- go figure.

I required a cartridge for the light Dual tone arm and that limited my selections. The OM10 is recommended by many audiophiles as a good sounding cartridge so I bought it. Some stated the OM10 is quite superior to the OM5 too, so I paid the difference.

The Ortofon is set up correctly on the Dual tone arm. Fact is the old Precept 220 is far superior sounding compared to the OM10. The OM10 is ordinary sounding at best. A Grado Green is also a cartridge for light tone arms and way better compared to the OM10. I should have paid the $20 difference.

 

Perhaps you need to get some hours on it or it's not quite set up correctly, but I've been using OMs for more than thirty years and the 10 is my favourite sub £100 MM, even though I have several high end MCs I still keep an OM body around and generally it's the 10 stylus I choose, I'm also surprised you find the Audio Technica to be better, definitely worth checking the OM is properly installed.

 

My system uses a vintage upgraded tube amp. Luxman PD272 and a VM540ML. I guess I am used to high quality vinyl playback. The Precept 220 is far superior though. Guess it is a system synergy issue as you state the OM10 is your favorite..

 

The Precept is in principle the AT10 with a better needle. A very good cartridge. I agree it´s much better than the OM.

 

I think that the OM 10 is one of the most overrated cartridges I have ever heard. I could never live with it, and I regularly recommend people stay away from it. OTOH the OM 30 sounds great, and I could happily live with one of these if I had to. It's shocking just how different these cartridges from the same line sound IMO.

 

Precept 220 was a pretty great cart - a high end audio technica. I have one with a new stylus. Try the OM30 - that is a great stylus and sounds fantastic. I don't believe it is too hard to pick up a new Precept stylus.

 

It's a great budget MM all rounder for the money, high end it isn't but it's not completely embarrassed on higher end decks, I used to have one on a Michell Gyro SE/Rega RB 600 and have used it with phono stages from Vertere, Gold Note, Electrocompaniet, Lehmann and Trichord as well as built in stages, it's an easy match and I've never found it to sound terrible.

As for those suggesting the OM 30, at around £200 more that's hardly a fair comparison, you can get an OM 5E for under £30, the 5E is very basic and definitely nothing special, the 10 stylus is a noticeable upgrade on the 5 and perfectly acceptable for the price. I don't know what the AT was priced at, but if it was an expensive cart then perhaps it's not a fair comparison with the Ortofon.

 

An OM 30 would come close - perhaps slightly better maybe than the Precept.

Of my carts - the Precept ranks very high:

1) Grado Master
Tied for 2nd) OM30 & DV 10X5
tied for 3rd) Precept 220 AT 440mla

An OM10 would be likely in 5th place - I don't have anything at the moment that low.

I gave a member here one of my old OM30's - he replaced his OM5 and was blown away.

 

I owned a new AT 91 that cost $30 several years ago and the OM10 is about equal IMO.

 

You can save that OM10 by putting an OM 20 needle on it. I had an OM 10 and it was boring until I put a OM20 stylus on it. the OM Carts had a nice clean sound but not particularly large or involving to me. I didn’t stick with them. Of course these were the lower end ones. But on the low and I agree with you the grados are a lot more fun and Rich sounding.

 

I am sure that it is a great cartridge for its price but you need to realize that every $70 cartridge will have its limitations.

 

Or if he really wants good sound, then do one better by putting a stylus 30 or perhaps even stylus 40 on it. That would be a night and day difference IMO.

 

Actually it isn't. The OM-10 far closer sonically to an OM-5 than it is to any of its higher-end siblings.

 

Don't know where you were getting your recommendations. The OM10 is similar to the 2M Red, which is a not so good stylus.

That would be like upgrading the 2M Red to the Blue and would be a far better way to go.

I wouldn't put either of those stylus' on an OM10 body.

Way overkill, the OM10 cartridge is not a good cartridge. Save those stylus' for a better cartridge body.

 

OM30 works just fine on a OM10 cartridge - it is a common recommendation. One of the reasons KAB sells the fantastic Concorde ProS30.

 

The "OM Super" body is 100% identical all the way up the line. If his OM 10 should feature the much older OM "NON-super" body, then you might have a point.

It's amazing how much of a difference styli alone can make inside of these cartridges. Had I not experienced the difference for myself, I would not have believed that the difference could be so large.

 

Interesting. Not familiar with the "Super" body.

 

These look identical to the older OM bodies, except for the word "Super" on the side. Supposedly these have better generator structures than did the originals.

To the best of my knowledge, the only OM cartridges which have been sold in recent years without the Super body is the OM-5.

 

I went from OM5E to OM10 and didn't notice too much. The Super OM 10 is better in my opinion.

 

He can always upgrade the tip to a 30 or 40. But it's not cheap.

 

I was just trying to be polite.

 

I bought NOS OM10, not the Super OM10.

 

Depends on your cart. history and expectations, I think. For the $$, you can't get too excited about the OM10 but Ortofon has a solid enough house-sound so try higher up the ladder, maybe?
DD

 

It would be far too expensive to change out to a OM30 or OM40 stylus.

Even then, you would be spending a lot of money for an expensive stylus and then mounting it on an inexpensive cartridge body.

A member is selling a almost new 2M Bronze cartridge/stylus for $280.

Even a new blue cart w/stylus would run roughly $235.

A Blue stylus alone is close to that.

 

Personally I don’t think that OM 10 super is bad. Not bad at all for the price. The OM series has a very linear frequency response. The OM40 is a bit noisy so I prefer the OM 30 over the OM40.

See links to comparison. There is a difference but I would say it is not huge.

Comparison vinyl vs digital - "Luka"