Analog Gear News

All hail the return of a classic cart! Or, as Ortofon puts it, “A classic, reimagined.” We’re talking about Ortofon’s MC 90X cartridge, which builds upon the legacy of the Danish company’s rightfully acclaimed MC A90 moving coil cartridge that was released 17(ish) years ago in conjunction with the company’s 90th anniversary.

The limited-edition MC 90X cart features a stainless-steel structure crafted using the company’s celebrated Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology, along with the Field Stabilizing Element (FSE) conductive cylinder, Wide Range Damping (WRD) system, Ortofon Replicant 100 Diamond stylus, Boron cantilever, quad coils, gold-plated 6NX OFC Aucurum coil wire, and newly developed proprietary Ortofon rubber dampers.

The Ortofon MC 90X features the aforementioned Replicant 100 Diamond stylus, renowned for its thin, light profile and exceptionally large contact surface. The Diamond’s shape, combined with a special polishing process and a Boron cantilever, is said to ensure “exceptional transparency, speed, and responsiveness.”

The MC 90X’s magnet system — based on an extremely strong, compact neodymium magnet — is said to be inspired by the designs of previous Ortofon carts including the Kontrapunkt series, the MC Jubilee, and the MC Windfeld.

Ortofon’s Field Stabilizing Element (FSE) is a small cylinder of conductive material that’s placed inside the magnet system in order to enable the force field to remain stable, regardless of the movement of the armature. FSE is also purported to improve channel separation, while at the same time minimizing dynamic distortion and intermodulation.

The MC 90X’s Wide Range Damping (WRD) system employs a platinum disc placed between two rubber absorbers that are said to offer “superior tracking and effective damping across the entire frequency range” as well as “minimize distortion and resonance, enhancing sound clarity.” Ortofon confirms that they develop and manufacture their exclusive rubber compounds in-house.

Specs for the Ortofon MC 90X cart include channel balance at 1kHz as <0.2dB; output voltage at 1kHz as 0.25mV (5cm/sec) channel separation at 1kHz as >28dB; frequency response between 20Hz to 20kHz as ±1dB; compliance, dynamic, lateral as 11μm/mN; recommended tracking force as 2.3g; internal impedance, DC resistance, as 4Ω; and recommended load resistance as >10Ω.

Additionally, the MC 90X’s stylus tip radius is 5/100μm (r/R), and the cartridge weight is 9.5g.

Finally, the SRP for the Ortofon MC 90X limited edition cartridge is €4,999.

For more about Ortofon, go here.
To find an authorized Ortofon dealer, go here.