Ortofon FF15 Any Good?

I have a FF15XE MkII (yellow stylus assembly) which I have had for nearly 30 years. I replaced the stylus about 25 years ago and it had very little use since then until I used just this weekend as a stop-gap for a Lenco Project that my son and I just completed. This brought back memories of my earlier impressions which were that this cartridge, while clearly not anything super special, is open and neutral and, depending on what you plan to mount it on, may very well be worth a new stylus. I've seen them as low as $25 all the way to $55.

Hi,
I wonder if you would be better off just buying a new cartridge for almost the same money. Your cartridge may have issues with dust, drying out, etc... You can get a new ortofon OM-5 for probably $60 and would probably be happier. I've had problems with old cartridges.....

Elevick makes a good point regarding the difference in price. OTOH, I think the sound of the FF series is far and away better than the newer OM series. So, again, it depends on your appliction and budget. Are you certain that the stylus in yours is shot? Wondering if it is good enough for you to get a flavor of the cartridge and to determine if the cartridge itself is sound before proceeding. But, even taking a flyer on a $30 stylus wouldn't leave you out very much. I think the FF is a decent backup cartridge for the dough, or fine cartridge in a modest system. But, if you are going down the higher-end cartridge/table/arm path, it may not be worth pursuing at all.

You should be able to fit a VMS 20E or VMS 30 stylus in the FF15 body. In the 80s, Ortofon had a standard body to which they fitted different stylus assemblies to make different carts. The VMS 20 and 30 were fantastic carts in their day - quite refined for a MM and would track absolutely anything

Thanks for the answers.

One question I'm now wondering about is if this FF15 would give a reasonable taste of the Ortofon sound. One thing that makes replacing the stylus worth considering is a chance to hear, at my leisure, the Ortofon sound as part of that never ending search for the Perfect Cartridge Company. Plus, it might be decent backup or second turntable cartridge. A new cartridge might be more practical--but I've heard some people suggest that the current lower end Ortofons aren't as good as they might be.

I am guessing that the current stylus probably does need to be replaced. I'm inclined to be cautious of old styli, and there is something about this stylus that looks strange when I viewed it with a magnifying lens. I have a record that is in hopelessly bad condition, which I played with this Ortofon. (I keep this record around for these times!) The Ortofon doesn't sound that bad playing it--I got the open and neutral impression mentioned by 4yanx.