Munich 2014

Ortofon Introduces New Affordable Quintet Moving Coil Cartridge Lineup and More (Video Enhanced)

Michael Fremer  |  May 15, 2014

Behind closed doors Ortofon's Leif Johannsen introduced me to the new Quintet moving coil cartridge lineup as well as other new products and an off the record look at some upcoming Ortofon projects.

The Quintet MC lineup uses the same red, blue, bronze, black and white color identification system it uses in the 2M MM series. So the least expensive Quintet is the Red at 250 Euro. It features a bonded elliptical stylus and aluminum cantilever. Next up the line is the Quintet Blue, at 400 Euro, featuring a lower mass nude elliptical stylus and aluminum cantilever, followed by the Bronze featuring a more severe fine line stylus and at the top of the stereo line, the 800 Quintet Black sports a boron cantilever and Shibata stylus. The Quintet White is the line's mono edition at 600 Euro. The Red and Blue output .5mV, while the more expensive two output .3mV.

Johannsen also showed me the anniversary SPU A95. Only 500 will be made. It uses a titanium SLM (selective laser melt) bodied cartridge. Price has yet to be set but it will be "expensive."

The Chief Officer of Acoustics and Technology at Ortofon showed me some other cool upcoming products but I can't tell you about them.

COMPANY INFO
Ortofon US
500 Executive Blvd. Suite 102, Ossining, NY 10562
http://www.ortofon.us

COMMENTS
Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on Thu, 2014-05-15 22:53

So there'll likely be an SPU A100 for 2018.
How about an A100, or was the A90 design a dead end?
Is the Anna the way of the future, or is it some evolution of the Windfeld/Cadenza series?
The 2M series is about 7 years old - any updates in the offing?
The Quintet series was announced last November - how soon before you get an evaluation unit?

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Fri, 2014-05-16 01:15
A90 not a dead end but I'm not free to divulge what's planned though I did see it :-). Have Quintet Bronze in-house now.
Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on Fri, 2014-05-16 06:38

Given that the recent MM comparison test seemed to favor the cartridges with a Shibata (or micro-line) type stylus, it'd be interesting if you can also sample the Quintet Black to see if the Shibata stylus (and boron cantilever and aucurum coils) is worth the $200 premium over the fine-line version.

l5chambre's picture
Submitted by l5chambre on Sun, 2014-05-18 16:32

This is a list changer! It pushes your list of products one back! I wonder what happens if you run a 20 ohm cart at 200 Ohm?

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Tue, 2014-05-20 00:53
That would be about ideal. The general rule of thumb for MC cartridges is to load at approximately 10X the internal impedance. So a 20 ohms cartridge running at 200 ohm loading would be about ideal.
hankaberle's picture
Submitted by hankaberle on Fri, 2015-11-06 15:06

I bought a new Ortofon Quintet mono cartridge through an authorized online dealer and the cartridge fell apart after 7 months. This should not happen with a quality cartridge! Especially when it cost more than $400!! Obviously Ortofon is not a quality company any more. I will NEVER buy another Ortofon product and I urge others to think twice about an investment in one.

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