ortofon quintet vs. vivid line of lomc carts

Mmusic Direct is offering reduced pricing on the discontinued Vivo red and Vivo blue. These are the forerunners of the new Quintet line. Ive done some comparisons of the two lines and see little difference except the Quintet line is heavier. What am I missing?

 

Nothing! You can get a deal on the discontinued models still in stock - performance should be pretty much identical. The Quintets are replacing both the Vivos and Rondos, but I believe the MSRP on the Quintet Red is set slightly lower than the Vivo Red used to be. The Quintet Blue has some silver type coil wires I believe, which The Vivo Blue may not have (I haven't checked).

 

O NUTS!! Just revisited the Music Direct site and the Vivo Blue is gone. And I think at 9g the Quintet line is too heavy for my Technics 1800MKII arm. O well. Maybe the Vivo Red?

 

It wasn't me!

You can always add mass to the counterweight if it doesn't balance. Compliance wise I wouldn't expect any problems either with a medium heavy Technics arm. Personally I'd prefer a finer stylus than the bonded elliptical on the Reds though, but that's just me.