Just bought an Ortofon 2M Black

I'd give it some time. I had a Blue once and took a lot of hours to break in.

 

Another thing I must say. The sense of depth and tridimensionality of soundstage. If the record is mixed that way, 2M Black will bring it. Remarkable.

 

I love my 2M Black, the more you play it the better it will sound.

 

This is so true. About 15 hours now and it gets better and better. The first impressions of fatigue and some un-musicality are just gone.

I just took a little bubble level and checked azimuth (Jelco HS25 headshell). According to the bubble, the headshell was slightly twisted counterclockwise so the right side of the cartridge (looking from the front of the turntable) was a bit down.

I rotated it until bubble got leveled.

I'm definitely hearing more detail now, from both channels but specially from the right channel. Also, it seems that the soundstage is now more centered, before that the left channel was a bit louder. Left was also a bit more aggressive and now it's as smooth as the right.

Sound had obviously improved.

Yes, this cartridge is sensitive to set up. I'm glad I have a turntable that allows me to use an azimuth adjustable headshell to fine set it by slowly rotating it instead of having to use spacers. I thought I had set it up easily in the first time but I was wrong, I'm still adjusting it.

As long as I know, the inner grooves correspond to the left channel and the outer grooves to the right. If the headshell was twisted to the left, than the diamond was pointing to the outer grooves, so to the right channel, the one I felt was weaker. I centered it and now that it's not pointing to the outer grooves (right channel), the right channel improved in detail and the left is less prominent. I believe that if the diamond was pointing to the right, the stylus was not correctly touching the outer grooves and this is why now right channel is better. The stylus should also be "resting" in the inner grooves and this is why it was more prominent.

Does it make any sense?

 

You just described my experience with a component that is described to me as revealing. My B&W 804's don't sound like anything. They sound exactly like what is being fed to it. So if it's a high quality source, they sound incredible. If the source is damaged or poorly mastered, well that's what you are going to get.

I'm pretty sure the Black will be my next cart too.

 

This is interesting as I have a 2m black and its a love/dislike fight often. Mine is on a Rega Planar 3 (old version with rb300 arm) with motor upgrade and GT sub platter. I use a MF A308cr preamp and thought the phono section was very good. Depends on who you read. Some records sound great, but those are typical great recording to start with. I tried the Beatles White (mono reissue) and its not great. I think its partly the album.

I've been thinking maybe its also the phono stage. I'm not sure if a MC is ever in the cards, but who knows, so I guess a stage that can handle both?

 

I emailed Ortofon and they told me under no circumstances should a 2m black go on a Rega RP3 as there is no VTA adjustment. I asked why because it's the exactly same size headshell as the Bronze and Blue, which they say are ok. I got no reply. Of course, they also told me i needed to add 2-3mm spacers for the Blue, which is completely bogus (it would push things even further the wrong direction).

*shrug*

 

I guess it’s because the Black shibata stylus is more sensitive to this kind of fine adjustment.

 

I have a Vinyl Nirvana restored Thorens TD-160 Super. It is equipped with a Rega/Moth RB-202 tone arm that is made by Rega and I have both the Bronze and the BLack on it. It doesn't have VTA and it sounds like it should.

 

Loving my 2M Black on the Planar 6. However, heed the warnings about proper alignment. Night and day difference. I took it to a pro. Took 1.5 hours to fully setup. VTA / Fozgometer etc.

Incredible. Yes: the garbage recordings sound like garbage but isn’t that why we love this hobby? To find the gems in the rough?

 

I had my 2M Black mounted on the headshell and aligned to my KAB modified Technics SL-1210MK5 by Needledoctor when I purchased it. I have never set up a cartridge before so I am clueless on this. I run it at 1.8. I have changed the VTA many times trying to find the magic spot. Overall I am very happy with it. Tracks great. No sibilance issues either. However on some older lps it does tend to be rather noisy. I am currently using the built in phono stage on my Denon receiver.

I also have a Pro-Ject Debut III with a 2M Blue that I had mounted by a local shop. Previously I had a 2M Red mounted at a different shop but I thought it sounded pretty bad. When I had the Blue mounted the guy at the shop said the previous shop had mounted the Red pretty far off, so to be fair I never heard the Red set up correctly. Very happy with how the Blue sounds. It's obviously not at the level as the Black but it does nicely with some older records that the Black reveals too many scratches. I am running the Blue through a Musical Fidelity LP-S phono stage.

I recently have decided to up my game and bought a Okki Nokki RCM. It made a very noticeable difference while listening to the 2M Black. I also am waiting delivery of a Pro-Ject DS 2 phonostage. I'll probably try it out on both systems to see how it sounds with both cartridges. Hopefully I will be happy with it.

 

You're running the best table/cart combo with the worst phono stage. The DS 2 will solve that.

 

We have the exact same table. Would you please provide some experience with both the carts? Do you think the Black is worth the extra $200? I like the Bronze a lot, but you know, a Black might be just the ticket.

 

That’s interesting! I’d be curious to know the difference this makes on the mentioned table. Using a Repa Rp3 before it made a huge diff coming from the Bronze to the Black. Using it on the Planar 6 now and it’s incredible.

Granted, it’s nowhere close to a $4k MC cart but I am attest it’s pretty stunning on my system.

 

Can’t wait for my 2M Black to arrive. Took advantage of the Massdrop deal last month (just $450). It will be replacing a 2M Blue.

 

Yes!! That was the best Massdrop ever! Good for you. But please have it installed by a pro.

 

As it happened, I had the same curiousity as you, so I bought a lightly used stylus fro a German seller.

I wrote about my first impressions in a previous thread on the subject of the 2m Black as compared to the Gold.

Here good sir, for your reading pleasure, I present this direct link to that specific post.

And, yes, you should get a black stylus. Having both the Black and the Gold, affords you having two different cartridges in one.

This is a big advantage, not having a removable head shell, where you can just swap out cartridges to your hearts content.

I didn't have any issues with the VTF, sounds fine without having the VTF adjustment. I'm perfectly fine keeping the cartridge body on the tone arm forever. I do not want to go through alignment procedures.

I don't think that the Black is particularly noisy, as if the record is clean, it is quiet enough. I do think that the Gold is particularly quiet, hence the raising of the noise background awareness level, when using the black.

Keep in mind, that with the A7's being 103-dB efficient, they bring up any noise or hum that they can pull out of the background, what you might typically not notice with 90-dB. efficient speakers (or less).

The Black has a deep earthy bass, which was not something that I was expecting.

The Black has this more forward organic sound.

 

This was a surprise to me as well.

 

That is like the first thing that I noticed about the changing out to the black stylus.

Now I have next to no practical experience in describing phono cartridges, really didn't have a clue. But, at this point, I had a superior tube driven audio chain and felt that my system was revealing enough to be able to hear the nuances in different phono cartridges.

In the old days, you simply bought a replacement stylus that was an OEM factory replacement and that was the end of the day.

Till I started understanding (here, I don't quite think that understanding is the most correct word for me to use here, maybe casual knowledge would be a better description), about the different type of diamond stylus' and really had a hard time believing how much of a difference that stylus can make to the overall sound signature.

But having heard that the Blue and it didn't take a scientist to determine that it was a better stylus. But, here, the cartridge body was their entry level model.

Moving up to Bronze, it is hugely obvious how the cartridge was far superior to the design used in the Red / Blue cartridges.

I would have never suspected how much different, by that, I'm meaning entirely different the sound of the Shibata stylus makes over the standard Bronze. It doesn't even seem possible. But, it is. I did read many reviews and the extra degree of Bass was not something in the reviews that stuck out in my mind as being an emphasized point, but the bass with the black stylus is really something that digs deep but is not overpowering.

Noting from the reviews, either you love the Black or you hate the Black, there did not seem to be any middle ground on the subject.

This was one of these situations, where my curiosity was getting the better of me. Still I didn't want to spend $475 retail for a science experiment, as I was expecting to find, a small incremental difference at best.

How wrong I was.

 

I suspect that many haters of the Black did not align theirs accurately enough. Unfortunately the 'sweet spot' is very small & takes a lot of effort to find but if you do, this can be a spectacular sounding MM cartridge.

 

The Pro-ject DS 2 arrived today. Have the house to myself. I'm on the first lp (Les Dudek's first lp) but I could tell an instant difference. More bass and richer sound.

 

This is why I always say leave it to a pro! It made a night and day difference that That magic and microdynamics that shouldn’t belong in a moving magnet cart

 

Congrats! Instant improvements are always the most reliable before our own psychology starts kicking in.

 

I bought a replacement 2m black stylus but I sold the turntable with the cart and everything. Loved the cart but now I'm using a tonearm that needs more compliance.
If anyone wants it let me know on pm- it is brand new in the box, never been installed. Bought from German ortofon distributer on eBay.

 

So any more observations?? I love hearing about people’s reaction to a new cart!