My new toy

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robM

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Just got my new toy. It's an Ortofon MC-A90 moving coil cartridge. I'll keep you all posted on what it sounds like on Saturday/Sunday as I would have put the listening hours in by then.

The system it's going into is:

VPI HRX turntable
Kuzma 4 point tonearm
Ortofon MC A90
Whest MC REF V Phonostage
Lamm Preamp
ATC Active 150SL
 
Ortofon

Oh you lucky so and so.

Would love to hear your impressions of the MC A-90.
I retired my MC 7500 last year and replaced it with the Windfeld, both great cartridges incidentally, although I'm guessing the new Ortofon flagship raises the bar further still.

Looks like an interesting design from the Danes, this being their first "nude" cartridge(I think) and limited to a production run of 400.

Stuart
 

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Yes it should be interesting as I also use a Windfeld at the moment which is excellent, but I thought I'd love a change.
What turntable/phono do you run?
 
I had an Anni/SME V/Koetsu Red Sig and it took a lot to beat it. I went from the Anni to the VPI.
 
I've held off replacing the deck(now 15+ years old) whilst posting lots of messages on various forums, basically playing devil's advocate, bemoaning the Anniversary's build and old technology.

Light touch paper and retire. Many vociferous replies later the Annie remains.
Oddly enough, I spoke with Arthur Khoubessarian last weekend and he made mention of the Anniversary Mk II becoming a real possibility.

I suppose my next deck will be the final one, quite a few candidates here: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=4569

Let the boy dream..........
 
robM said:
Just got my new toy. It's an Ortofon MC-A90 moving coil cartridge. I'll keep you all posted on what it sounds like on Saturday/Sunday as I would have put the listening hours in by then.

The system it's going into is:

VPI HRX turntable
Kuzma 4 point tonearm
Ortofon MC A90
Whest MC REF V Phonostage
Lamm Preamp
ATC Active 150SL
Click to expand...


Hi RobM,

How many cartridges do you own? You seemed to be Mr Ortofon.

This does look interesting. I see you have Winfeld. I have this on my cartridge short list as an upgrade from a Jubilee, which I currently use. Have you owned a Jubilee? If so what was the difference between it and the Winfeld?

SCIDB
 
SCIDB

I don't sell my cartridges, just keep them as backups and have had them all re-tipped by ES. I have about 12-15 cartridges but no Jubilee. During the Jubilee time I used a Transfig and my old faithful - the retipped Red Signature. I'm not a fan of the new Koetsu RS. The older ones I feel sound like Koetsu's and when you get them retipped they lose their sluggishness. I say sluggishness compared with the more modern MCs. An old Koetsu RS that has been retipped is really nice and costs nothing really - £500 body and £250 for a retip!
 
Windfeld

SCIDB said:
Hi RobM,

How many cartridges do you own? You seemed to be Mr Ortofon.

This does look interesting. I see you have Windfeld. I have this on my cartridge short list as an upgrade from a Jubilee, which I currently use. Have you owned a Jubilee? If so what was the difference between it and the Windfeld?

SCIDB
Click to expand...

Hello SCIDB,

I've had a long relationship with many Ortofons, starting with an MC2000, then a MC3000 Mk II, MC5000 on loan, two Rohmanns, an MC7500 and now, a Windfeld. Oddly enough, I've never heard a Jubilee.

I like the ease of presentation, midrange, balance and "rightness" that the Ortofon brings coupled with reliability.

There's not much separating these cartridges at the top of the tree, I reckon it might come down to personal preference and component synergy, forget the reviews - audition and listen.
 
yes, I heard the Cadenza at a dealer in Munich, very nice. Wonder how close it is to a Windfeld?
 
My A90 update in my system:

VPI HRX turntable
Kuzma 4 point tonearm
Ortofon MC A90
Whest MC REF V Phonostage
Lamm Preamp
ATC Active 150SL

Well..

The Ortofon A-90 is in a very different league to the Windfeld I had been playing for the past 12 months. In every area the A-90 is so much better than anything else I have heard in my system.

I've been spinning LPs by 70's Japan, 70's Doobie Brothers, 70's Cameo, The Impressions, Steely Dan, Coltrane, Hargrove, Dennis Brown and many more.

The way the A-90 sounds is so much more lifelike. Instruments take on a very different dimension. More 3D if that makes any sense. If you have never experienced 3D in your system then get a Windfeld or ZYX Airy 3.

The bass extension and precision on the A-90 are second to nothing else I've heard and more importantly bass 'space' is uncannily live. The midband is so clear and clean that you think there is someone sitting in your living room singing and the high-frequency is delicate but detailed and sizzling with life. The noise floor has dropped also.

As for things like pace, timing etc....WOW. Everything I have played 'feels' like it should. The dynamic range of my vinyl system has been 'upped' by what sounds like 80dB. The soundstage and imaging is SO much better... not that the Windfeld was not good at that but the A-09 is just much more realistic.

I'm loving this system more and more. I've been collecting vinyl since I was about 9 years old and have just under 12000 LPs in total. Mainly Jazz, Soul, Northern Soul, Roots Reggae, 70's prog rock and 70's folk and everything I have played from each genre sounds like --- 'I discovered it all over again'.

Would I recommend the A90... Hell Yes! Yes it's bloody expensive but then you only live once.
 

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