Ortofon OM10 and Audio Technica AT450

Well, I went ahead and got a new TT for my secondary system upstairs, for which an automatic TT was important to me because this is where I usually listen in bed and I don't like to worry about the stylus on the record all night if I fall asleep. So I got a Thorens TD190-2, which came with an Ortofon OM10 installed. It arrived today. This replaced an aging and erratic Technics SL-J2 with a NOS Audio Technica AT450 cartridge on it that I found on line last year--with only maybe 30 or 40 hours on it--virtually new. I'm a bit disappointed with the sound of the new Thorens/Ortofon OM10 combination so far, to be honest. The new deck sounds a bit thin, distant, lacking in bass, and a trifle strident in the higher frequencies. Not bad, by any means, just weak in those areas relative to the old deck and cartridge.

What I'm wondering:

1. Will the Ortofon mellow out a little as it breaks in? So far it's played only about 8 sides.
2. How do these two cartridges compare? I have no sense of what place the AT450 had in the quality range when it was new.
3. I've heard good things about the OM10 but also that the OM20 is a BIG upgrade. True? Would that be closer in quality to the AT450? (I suppose I could put the AT450 on the new TT, but, again, I have no way to judge if that would make sense as I don't understand what quality level the AT450 is.)

Thanks!

 

Never mind--not that anyone has cared. The Thorens turntable sounded so bad, I sent it back. Weirdly wobbly sound. Just terrible. I replaced it today with a Rega Planar 3 and the AT450 on it sounds perfectly fine--good, even--for this secondary system. Suddenly the music is music again. I find it hard to believe that a $700 turntable (included tax) could sound so bad (the Thorens). I put the AT450 on it instead of the Ortofon OM10 it came with, and it was somewhat better, but still sounded distorted--just off, somehow. Perhaps the one I got was defective? In any case, it looked and felt cheap, too. Happy to be rid of it.

 

It is possible the loading the phono stage you have presents the OM10 with isn't right. I own the Ortofon Concorde the SME styled plug in version of the OM series and that description of the sound isn't one I recognize using either the built in photo stage of my Rotel integrated amp nor an external dedicated Rotel phono stage.

 

I don't know what the problem was. I imagine many people own that particular model and are happy with it. It did not work for me, but, as I say, it felt and looked cheaply made relative to the money it cost. I would have been unhappy with it even if it had sounded better, I think.