A review of the whole Ortofon 2M Series


I have kindly been given access to the whole range of cartridges by Henley Designs and have posted the first part of the review (the Red and Blue) on my Blog at:

http://www.theapplechap.com/TheAppleChap/Blog/Entries/2011/7/13_Upgrading_to_the_Ortofon_2M_Red_or_Blue.html

To any cynics out there, Henley Designs gave me free hand to write the review so any errors and omissions are mine and mine alone.

The second part on the Bronze and Black should hopefully be up next week.

Please bear in mind I am not a professional writer, just a HiFi enthusiast using my blog as therapy for my disability and the opportunity to help others.

Hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave a review on the sote (or here!).

Alan (TheAppleChap)
theapplechap
Now that's an interesting review, written from a slightly different viewpoint than many but rigorous in the objectives it chooses. Nicely done, and the rest of the site I looked at (the Apple stuff) was interesting too. Thanks for the post and I look forward to the next instalment of the review.
So the two bottom cartridges have the same body and the top two a better one? I saw a review in a British mag, don't remember which, which I interpreted to say that the lower rung cartridges could be used with the better stylus. Of course this could still be true even if the more expensive bodies were sonically better. Is this in fact the case? I have a Red myself but haven't tried any other stylus on it.
Without un-amplified acoustic music you are basically
comparing the sound of electronics not music.
I noticed your Delius album, nice, (if you like Delius samplers try Marriner's on Argo, too) but anyway, for some really difficult high velocity tracking tests, pick up Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb" on Argo and try the "Missa Brevis" for Boy Choir.
To answer Stanwals question,

It is possible to use the better styluses on the lower priced bodies and there are sonic improvements but not to the level achieved by using one of the better cartridge bodies. The second part of the article (link below) deals with this question in much more detail.

http://www.theapplechap.com/TheAppleChap/Blog/Entries/2011/7/28_Upgrading_to_the_Ortofon_2M_Bronze_or_Black.html

Alan