SH Spotlight Newbies getting started playing vinyl, please avoid mistracking & resulting groove damage!!!

Ortofon Red works well for me on my TT. 1.6g tracking force. Easy price at around $150 and better than many at twice the price.
Easiest install of any cartridge I've had .

Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5cm/sec. - 5.5 mV
Channel balance at 1 kHz - 1.5 dB
Channel separation at 1 kHz - 22 dB
Channel separation at 15 kHz - 15 dB
Frequency response - 20-20.000 Hz + 3 / - 1 dB
Tracking ability at 315Hz at recommended tracking force - 70 µm
Compliance, dynamic, lateral - 20 µm/mN
Stylus type - Elliptical
Stylus tip radius - r/R 8/18 µm
Tracking force range - 1.6-2.0 g (16-20 mN)
Tracking force, recommended - 1.8 g (18 mN)
Tracking angle - 20°
Internal impedance, DC resistance - 1.3 kOhm
Internal inductance - 700 mH
Recommended load resistance - 47 kOhm
Recommended load capacitance - 150-300 pF
Cartridge colour, body/stylus - Black/Red
2M standard and 2M Verso cartridges weight - 7.2 g

 

I'll have to disagree. I had the Red 2M and it was horrible. After upgrading to the Blue 2M, things were exponentially better in every way from tracking to SQ.

 

For me the Red was way better than the Audio-Technica cartridge/stylus that came with my TT, so that is where my comparison comes from. Blue would be an upgrade for sure....my next move someday. Red is still a decent upgrade, at least with my moderate system.

 

Which Audio-Technica cartridge/stylus came with your turntable?

 

Same story with me. The AT91R that came with my turntable could not handle half of the Chris Bellman (more like Bassman, am I right folks) records I had amongst many others, though I’m sure that was made worse by me just going with factory alignment and not fine tuning it myself. Hopefully noob me didn’t do too much damage.

The Red was a definite improvement in general quality and tracking ability. After some tweaking I only have slight IGD issues on the last track of some very loudly pressed vintage records and maybe one or two odd ones. I plan on upgrading soon, but I’m still paying off a pre amp I recently got.

 

I love it!

 

Upgrading from Red is not a priority with my modest system (see my profile). When I asked the pro at New England Hi-Fi (they have a dedicated team that really know their stuff)...he whole heartedly recommended the Ortofon Red (it was just $99 five years ago). He said that it was every bit as good as any $300 cartridge/stylus. and upgrading to Ortofon Blue was a negligible improvement especially since it was $300. He had both in the drawer and could have easily convinced me to get the Blue, and knew it.

So I went for the Red and have been thoroughly happy. My system is geared to acoustic first but still handles the heavy stuff as well. Classical records are stunning as my old SONY speakers were designed for symphonic and acoustic music...and they rock.


Side by side, the Red was a marked improvement. Since Red and Blue use the same cartridge I can upgrade for a Blue $99 stylus (the combo Blue is $300, so upgrading from my red would be the way to go).

And note the top screws...really easy to install with just screws; no screws and nuts to fiddle with.





"I have the same TT and i just upgraded to the 2m red cartridge as well yesterday, and it is truly amazing how much of an improvement it is over that stock Audio Technica. Its so much more balanced than the AT, as I found the AT to be really mid heavy and "muddy"."

"Breaking in" a new cartridge is the trick--patience:
"Just wait until it's broken in! I have the same cartridge and I thought it sounded a bit cold - at first. After a couple months of regular listening, it really warmed up. It was quite a dramatic change actually!"

 

Okay, I was able to derive the answer to my question above, after scrutinizing the photos posted by @lemonade kid .

It seems that @lemonade kid is recommending the ~$130 Ortofon Red elliptical cartridge/stylus over the $49 discontinued Audio-Technica AT95E elliptical cartridge/stylus.

Similarly, it seems that @eclecticfiend is recommending the ~$130 Ortofon Red elliptical cartridge/stylus over the $34 Audio-Technica AT91R conical cartridge/stylus.

Is that correct?

I just got a $169 Audio-Technica AT-VM95ML micro-linear cartridge/stylus to replace my well-worn-out $30 discontinued Audio-Technica AT91 conical cartridge/stylus that came with my Thorens turntable around 25 years ago. (Yes, I'm well-aware that I probably caused damage to some of my LPs after that conical wore out before I updated my entire setup to Marantz/Clearaudio a few years ago.)

For a moment I was thinking "uh oh, did I screw up by sticking with Audio-Technica?" But now I feel I'll be okay. Now I just need to find an opportunity in the next few weeks to setup my new AT-VM95ML cartridge - I'm looking forward to using it on my Thorens turntable to do needle-drops with my KickerStarter-funded DropStation as soon as it arrives (hopefully just a matter of weeks?).

 

The Ortofon Red isn't a bad cartridge (especially for the price), and I'm not surprised it's better than the super-cheap low-end A-T cartridges. A Red came pre-installed on my Technics SL-1500C turntable when I bought it back in February 2022. It sounded much better than the cheap cartridge I'd had on my previous turntable, but I noticed some IGD on some albums (particularly some 1950s Atlantic jazz pressings), and the treble struck me as a bit harsh. In April, I replaced it with a more expensive dual-magnet micro-line cartridge, the Audio-Technica VM540ML (specifically, this cartridge/headshell combo), which I found to be far superior to the Red. The IGD went away completely, the treble is smoother, and the music just seems richer and more alive.

I've heard the Ortofon Blue and Black are much better than the Red, but I have not tried them.

 

Did you get the 2M Red 5 years ago, @lemonade kid? If so & you use it with any regularity, you're likely due for replacement! Up to 1,000 hours lifespan at the most on that puppy, and any degradation on the stylus will start to wear out your record grooves. The Red was the first one I bought & used happily as well some years back. I liked it & thought it was certainly good enough. When replacement time happened for me I upgraded to a 2M Blue stylus and that was an absolute upgrade! I immediately heard the top end on everything open right up. Everything became less congested & and more exciting, but also smoother. A lot of records that had IGD on my Red didn't have any of that sibilance & distortion anymore on the Blue.
So when it's replacement time for ya & u don't wanna break the bank, you're definitely safe goin' Blue!

 

I switched out the stock green AT95 on my AT120 table, and at the advice of users here in another thread, bought the AT100E cart.

It was like lifting a blanket off the sound compared to the AT95. The SQ difference was kind of dramatic.

AT have discontinued the AT100 for a more expensive model, but LP Gear still carries them as back stock probably (who knows for how much longer). I've probably gone through 3 or 4 replacement stylus for it. May check out the Ortofon Red now if it's not too expensive. The SH-4 headshell it's mounted on fits right on the AT table tonearms right?

 

Won't work on your Grundig, or it's tonearm. A Dual 1009 or 1019 with a high end 1/2" mount ceramic, or better yet, use a preamp with RIAA stage, you'd be golden. That Zenith/CBS labs cartridge won't work in a Grundig console, or the changers used in one. The higher end Grundig offerings did use Dual.

 

Yes, the Ortofon Red (around $130) will fit the Audio Technica LP120 TT tonearm...it fits perfectly. The wiring configuration is different that what the AT install directions show, so careful there when plugging the tone arm wires into the cartridge to get them right--but that's easy to figure out.

Unlike most cartridges that use tiny screws + nuts (like in pic A) to attach the cartridge to the headshell, all Ortofon cartridges use just screws that screw directly into the cartridge (pic B)--no small nuts to lose and fumble with.

Pic A


Pic B - showing the simple screws--no nuts! ...you don't need the Ortofon headshell pictured below, your AT headshell works just fine.

 

Yep - that’s what I ended up doing - putting a 1009 /M44 / phono preamp setup inside the Grundig.