AUDIOPHILE AUDITION focuses on recordings of interest to audiophiles and collectors, with an accent on surround sound for music, and on all hi-res disc formats. Over 100SACD, DVD Video/Audio and standard CD reviews are published during each month, and our archives go back to January 2001.
Elevated the playback of my LPs to a level I could never have dreamed possible from a $200 cartridge.
Ortofon 2M Blue MM Phono Cartridge
Ortofon 2M Blue MM Phono Cartridge
SRP: $199
Specifications:
Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5 cm/sec: 5.5 mV
Channel balance at 1 kHz: 1.5 dB
Channel separation at 1 kHz: 25 dB
Channel separation at 15 kHz: 15 dB
Frequency range at -3 dB: 20-25,000 Hz
Frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz +2 / -1 dB
Tracking ability at 315Hz at recommended tracking force: 80 µm
Compliance, dynamic, lateral: 20 µm/mN
Stylus type: Nude Elliptical
Stylus tip radius: r/R 8/18 µm
Tracking force range: 1.6-2.0g (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 weight: 7.2 g
Intro
About 12 years ago, and through a quite painful (for me, especially) process, I sold off my hi-end big rig (including a Linn/Signet OC9 analog front end, Classe electronics and Magneplanar speakers) and moved into a more budget-friendly and significantly lower-fi home-theater based stereo setup. While the harsh reality was grim at first, within a few months I’d pretty much made the adjustment, although I totally lamented the inability to play some of my favorite LPs, some of which to this day still haven’t been released in any digital format. But with my daughter’s recent entrance into a prohibitively expensive private college and my wife’s upcoming battle with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, that decision, in retrospect, was the correct one.
Over the ensuing years, I’ve been able to build upon the home theater base with the acquisition of some carefully-considered used equipment that offered higher-end performance, and a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to acquire a second hand Rega P2 turntable. The turntable came equipped with the venerable RB 250 arm, which an intense amount of research had convinced me was its best attribute; it also arrived sans cartridge. I noticed that a number of tables sourced from Rega came equipped with Goldring Elektra cartridges, and assuming that there must be some reasonable symbiosis between the two, I soon was able to procure a gently used (and bargain priced) Elektra and was once again on the path towards analog nirvana. While far from a completely satisfactory situation, it would have to make do; at the very least, I was ecstatic to have access to vinyl playback again. The Goldring actually mated reasonably well with the Rega arm, yielding quite listenable results. Although I fully realized that the Rega/Goldring combination was a shadow of the analog bliss I’d enjoyed with my Linn/OC9 setup from long ago, my long-term memory of the past didn’t get too much in the way of enjoying the music produced by the current system.
The 2M Series
With the recent resurgence of interest in vinyl reproduction, an increasingly regular flow of review copies of LP releases have been made available to me of late. As a result, I’d developed this burning curiosity to see whether a more refined cartridge would enhance my playback and enjoyment of LPs, or whether the limiting factor was my relatively modest system. When Ortofon’s new cartridge series came to my attention late last year, I was definitely intrigued. The 2M Series (2M standing for MM, the abbreviation for moving magnet) is built around four models, the Red, Blue, Bronze and Black, priced respectively at $99, $199, $389 and $669. The lower priced Red and Blue models share the same plastic bodies and reproducing engines; the cost differential between the two comes from the Blue’s use of a nude elliptical stylus versus the Red’s elliptical stylus. The more expensive Bronze and Black models incorporate bodies made of Noryl, a glass/plastic hybrid that significantly improves the cartridges’ resistance to resonance; they also feature enhanced engines with split pole pins and silver plated copper wiring. The Bronze uses a nude fine line diamond stylus, while the flagship Black features the same Shibata stylus found on Ortofon’s highly acclaimed Jubilee MC cartridge.
It didn’t take much to convince me that I badly wanted to experience this cartridge line, and a review that fell just short of an all-out rave from a contemporary over at Positive Feedback had me totally sold. Add a resoundingly firm endorsement from my local Ortofon dealer who couldn’t seem to keep the 2M Red on his shelves, and the deal was sealed. A short series of emails later, Louis Dorio from Ortofon and I agreed that the 2M Blue was the best match for my RB 250 arm and my goals for the review, and in a few brief days I was in serious business!
I’ve mounted countless cartridges over the years, and I’ve often found the exercise to be taxing and tedious. The 2M offered, for me, the most painless cartridge mounting experience of my entire existence as an audiophile. I’m not sure whether Ortofon is trying to maximize the power of suggestion with all those sultry looking photos scattered all over the internet of 2M Series cartridges mounted in Rega arms, but it should be totally obvious to just about anyone how the contours of the 2M’s body match the contours of the Rega headshell almost perfectly! It just seemed too good to be true, but mounting the 2M Blue flush to the edges of the RB 250 placed it in the absolute perfect position. And the inclusion of integral mounting screws made the job amazingly quick – no more fiddling about with tiny bolts or searching for dropped microscopic nuts! A quick check with my trusty old Mo-Fi Geo-Disc (thank goodness I didn’t get rid of that) confirmed that the cartridge offset and overhang were in the optimum position. This took less than fifteen minutes, while in the past I’ve agonized for what seemed like hours – Rega owners will definitely rejoice over the ease of installation and setup.
I’ve always leaned towards higher VTF settings, so I set the tracking force at Ortofon’s recommended 1.8 grams. A real quandary came with the Vertical Tracking Angle setting. The 2M Blue’s body is slightly taller than my current Goldring cartridge, and I immediately noticed that the VTA would need some adjustment. The Rega doesn’t offer continuously variable VTA adjustment, and although such adapters can be had, they aren’t cheap, so I was forced here to take the middle ground. My 200 gram pressings from Classic Records definitely pushed the issue, and I’ve been getting an increasing number of 180 gram reissue pressings as well. I also have a number of standard weight 140 gram pressings, so I compromised and set the VTA to be accurate for 180 grams. Regardless, the VTA change was only a few millimeters at best, and I can’t honestly attest to any significant alteration of the sonic character during playback of any of the differing weights of vinyl. I also had a bit of a challenge setting the arm’s anti-skating; whereas in the past I’d always set the anti-skate value to match the tracking force, that didn’t seem to work here. After a period of extensive experimentation setting the value by ear, I finally arrived at about half of the 1.8 gram tracking force.
Listening Results
The first real acid test for me came with Kor (Proprius 7770), featuring the Mikaeli Chamber Choir conducted by Anders Eby. This LP offers for me the best presentation of acapella mixed voices ever recorded, in truly unusual repertory that I’ve never seen duplicated anywhere in thirty-plus years. Proprius LPs were highly prized in their day not only for their exceptionally lifelike acoustic qualities, but also for their uniformly superb pressings. This disc arrived in less than pristine condition, but was nonetheless playable via the Goldring/Rega combination, although the surface noise was sometimes excessive. And although I’d always had some issues with any of my previous arm/cartridge combinations (including the Linn) tracking the third movement of Cesar Geoffray’s magnificent ‘Triptyque Marial,’ the Goldring/Rega managed it reasonably well. Right out of the box, with no break-in whatsoever, the 2M Blue offered such an unbelievable increase in musicality that even my wife (who I often accuse of being tone-deaf) immediately took notice and remarked on the obvious difference! Besides the incredible gains in imaging and musicality, the surface noise was reduced exponentially, almost to the point of being a non-issue, whereas it previously made listening through the Goldring cartridge challenging at best. And the tracking ability of the 2M Blue continually impressed me; the ‘Triptyque Marial’ came through with the kind of clarity I’d never have dreamed possible.
Another record that rates highly on my short list is the Speaker’s Corner reissue of the 1956 Decca Blueback Espana (SXL 2020), featuring Ataulfo Argenta conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a remarkably entertaining assortment of Spanish-influenced repertory. The album’s keystone moment comes in the opening selection, Rimsky-Korsakov’s great Capriccio Espagnol, which is given a bravura performance by a fiery young conductor that (in my book) has never been bettered. The recording is among the most dynamic records I’ve ever encountered, with truly thunderous bass and tremendously potent transients. Listen closely and you can hear the rumble of the subway running underneath London’s Kingsway Hall, which only adds to the already incredible realism of this exceptional LP. The 2M Blue delivered the performance with not only freshness and vitality, but also with a viscerally dynamic realism I wouldn’t have thought possible from such a modestly priced arm and cartridge combination.
A truly superb 180 gram, 2 LP set that recently came my way is Diana Krall’s The Look of Love (ORG 004) from Original Recordings Group. These LPs are easily among the finest I’ve ever encountered and totally justify the $40 price tag for the 2-disc set. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Diana Krall’s voice rendered more three-dimensionally than on these records via the 2M Blue; I was also mightily impressed by the depth and width of the soundstage that the 2M Blue projected. And the absolute scads of remarkably deep and tightly controlled bass – bass that was significantly lacking in both depth and refinement via the Goldring – was little short of revelatory as heard through the 2M Blue.When I first acquired the Rega/Goldring combo a few years back, I immediately fell back into that favorite pastime of combing the racks of local stores for used records, but in no time at all discovered that playback via the Goldring was relatively flat and uninspiring with just about every used LP I tried. As a large percentage of my listening at the time revolved around a fairly steady flow of SACD reviews, the turntable eventually was relegated to playback of old favorites and the occasional LP review. I was curious how the 2M Blue would respond in this environment, and to my great joy and surprise, it breathed new life into old records, like a pristine copy of Dire Straits’ eponymous debut album, which had seemed almost lifeless via the Goldring cartridge. A recent business trip yielded what appeared to be an unplayed copy of Al Stewart’s classic Year Of The Cat, whose title track jumped from my speakers with a weight and authority that my CD version could not approach – the experience was literally like hearing the record for the very first time! I’ve found myself once again actively searching for used records, and have so far not been disappointed by anything I’ve heard via the 2M Blue, whose superb musicality has transcended any surface issues of a multitude of discs I’ve played over the last couple of months.
Wrap Up
The 2M Blue has transformed my analog front end, and has elevated the playback of LPs to a level I could never have dreamed possible from a $200 cartridge. In fact, it’s totally restored my faith in my system – the two months I’ve spent with this cartridge has undeniably renewed my zest for living, and has gotten me listening to a ton of music, both old and new. Having owned what I would have considered fifteen years ago to be a Class A turntable system with the Linn/Signet combo, it’s really amazing that the state of analog playback has reached such an impressive level today at such a relatively affordable price point. The 2M Blue continually impressed me with its tracking ability and incredible musicality, and for Rega tonearm owners especially, it’s a dream come true. Of course, any phono cartridge is going to be very heavily system dependent, but place the 2M Blue in a well-matched arm and you’ll experience true analog magic. This one’s a keeper – very highly recommended!
-- Tom Gibbs
No comments:
Post a Comment