Ouch! This shouldn't happen on a 1k cartridge let alone any well known cartridge. I'm sure you are careful but if the arm/cartridge can run into the center where the label sits this "may" be an issue. Don't really know just thinking outloud
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Send the Ortofon back to the dealer and get a refund. I recommend the Hana SL mc cartridge ($750).
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Are you using a liquid stylus cleaner?
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There has to be a post mortem exam on the cartridge. If the cantilever is snapped in half the most likely problem is the operator or tonearm set up. If the cantilever is missing entirely then it was not mounted correctly and it is a manufacturing defect which Ortofon will replace under warranty. If just the stylus is missing and the cantilever is entirely intact it is also a warranty issue.
Unipivot arms are wobbly and probably more likely to damage cartridges. They are harder to handle and it does not take much to damage any cantilever. Since mass is the enemy the better cartridges use very small diamonds and cantilevers which have to be more fragile. You could always get a DJ cartridge but it will not sound as good.
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I played less than 25 albums...did not clean the stylus yet...or touch it, except to lower arm/stylus onto the record. In both cases...the entire stylus is no longer attached to the body of the cartridge. I am 2nd guessing it is something i did or doing..but have been overly cautious...as the system is new. I have read good thinks about the Hana cartridges... I am taking the entire table back to my Audio store and have them trouble shoot it from the start. I feel that the tracking inward on the last tract may be the issue, but unsure. It is a great table (i hoped it is my last table...the cartridge was more than i really wanted to spend...but wth...)and the cartridge is reportedly an excellent match. J
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FWIW I’d say you have dodged a $1k bullet. I ran that cartridge on virtually the same table and found it lacking in several areas. After two fails I’d ask the dealer for a refund and move on. An AT ART 9 or OC9 IMHE is a much better option or even a Soundsmith MIMC Star will be a step up in SQ and reliability. You could also look at the Charisma line—very Big Bang for the buck and beautifully made. |
To be more specific on the problem....both the stylus and boron cantilever arm are gone as if dropped out of the connection point at the cartridge body. No matter what the Audio store finds...i feel i should move on from the Ortofon cartridges....think it.may be a quality control build issue....J
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bummer, sorry to hear.
fyi the quintet has a saphire cantilever that is fairly robust in my experience.
you should definitely clean it more than every 25 plays!
as to the failure, it has to be one of these possibilities-
1 user accident.
2 batch of poor quality builds from ortofon
3 incompatibility with the unipivot arm imparting twist on the cantilever.
4 combination of bad quality batch and tonearm incompatibilty.
5 combination of bad batch and user accident.
ortofons are generally well crafted, high quality units.
did you happen to notice when it happened?
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defnitely try an audio technics ART9 XI. superbly robust and much better sound than the quintet.
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It is normal for the cartridge to track toward the label in the dead space between the last cut on the LP and the label, even when antiskate is properly set. But the stylus tip should not actually make contact with the paper label. I’m imagining that if that’s happening, the stylus could snag on the edge of the paper, pulling the whole stylus/cantilever assembly out of the cartridge body. Is this what you’re observing?
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I have the Quintet Black S and have had no issues in 2 years. Sorry this happened. Ortofon is a pretty well known brand. I haven't heard of widespread dissatisfaction.
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I have run Quintet Black S for 4 yrs until a Shelter 501 replaced it. No issues with Orto. Kept it as a backup. On one occasion the cart tracked the dead wax and ended up on the label area (Damn Kirmuss cleaning solution residue collected on the stylus) but no harm done. I suspect,.as others have mentioned, cart/tonearm incompatibility.
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Provided the cartridge was not mounted in some very bizarre orientation, like sideways or dialing in a crushing amount of VTF, I cannot imagine any cartridge/tonearm incompatibility that could do this, and I do regard Ortofon cartridges as very well made.
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Is there a record clamp and has the cartridge made contact with it? I had another unipivot and couldn’t use my HRS record weight with it because they made contact at the end of the side while the groove was still trying to take the stylus inwards. With a Dynavector 17D2 I got away with it, once, and it didn’t get put to the test a second time.
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K... I do have a HRS weigh... I don't think the arm/cartridge has made it inward to that degree...as I take the table in for trouble shooting I will have an inexpensive cartridge mounted and give that a test run...! Thanks...J
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Ortofon is a great company, but given what you report I would suspect manufacturing defect. Maybe they had a bad run of attaching the sapphire cantilevers for whatever reason. I’d move on to another model. I’ve never had a problem with their metal cantilever models - the Cadenza Red is a rockin little cartridge for not much more, and should be quite robust too. But what you’ve experienced is extremely frustrating, so I wouldn’t blame you for hopping off to another brand!
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Mulv do you really think two randomly selected samples of the Quintet were so defective that the stylus and cantilever were pulled out by ordinary use? I don’t.
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Mulv do you really think two randomly selected samples of the Quintet were so defective that the stylus and cantilever were pulled out by ordinary use? I don’t.
That (bad run of a few consecutive serial #s), or they were fiddled with by a 3rd party (dealer?) before OP got to them. Or OP is doing something bad to them - but he seems trusty so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt :)
As for labels - though one should obviously strive to avoid it, I've had stylus eat label a few times over the years (failed end groove), including an Ortofon MC (Kontrapunkt c), and they all seemed completely unphased by that. The only time I've seen a stylus lost is when it was *thrown* down and across a record, with lots of kinetic energy. Simply gliding across a label shouldn't generate enough energy to snag and kill a good assembly, UNLESS the record weight is poorly shaped and clips the cantilever, or the cantilever is not protected from spindle, etc.
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Maybe you have a favourite disc with a non-concentric label that catches on the stylus? My experience with Ortofon's is that they have excellent quality control.
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My experience with Ortofon's is that they have excellent quality control.
My experience with Ortofon is also that they have excellent quality, but they don't have a long history with sapphire cantilevers like with metal, and I think it's OK to at least entertain the question.
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