Ortofon AS-212S - Any Users?


Although it has been around for a while, there is precious little feedback on this tonearm on the web. Or even on Ortofon’s website, for that matter, where there’s no description of the bearings or even a prescription for cartridge weights. I know it’s static balanced. I know it’s made by Jelco. I’ve been told by a dealer that Ortofon then does it’s own thing with wiring and damping the armtube, perhaps other tweaks as well.

An oddity is that its geometry does not intrinsically allow for two null points at the stock mounting distance of 216mm (eff length 231; overhang 15). Ortofon responded to this (oversight? negligence?) with a statement from Leif Johannsen, Chief Officer Acoustics and Technology, recommending it be mounted at 217mm instead of 216, with an overhang of 17.7 to create an eff length of 234.7. Thus it achieves Baewald nullpoints at 66 and 121mm for a cartridge in a headshell, and a single nullpoint at 121.5 for SPUs.

What do you think of all this? Seems like a bit of a patch to me, but maybe just fine.

Anyone have any experience with this arm? I’m thinking of adding it to my modded Lenco to run mostly MMs and, with an optional heavier weight, the occasional SPU.

Here’s a link if you want to check it out.
https://www.ortofon.com/as-212s-p-648-n-3448

Bill

wrm57