Ortofon MC Quintet Blue, $569
First of all, Ortofon is a REAL MANUFACTURER, based in Denmark. Yup, Ortofon builds its own cartridges in its own house with Danish TENDER LOVING CARE.
I have to tell ya, it’s a pleasure selling Orto carts because they always WORK, and work right. You would be surprised that many cartridge brands are inconsistent and unreliable. I’ve been in the biz since 1975 and have beat my head against the wall dealing with idiosyncratic consistency from a myriad of cartridge manufacturers. I’m happy to tell you that Orotofon makes life easy. You get what you pay for- every time.
The truth is, the more high end, expensive, and artisan a cartridge is, the less likely it is that said cartridge will perform as intended. You can’t beat the consistency of Ortofon who is a real manufacturer with repeatable processes- vs a “master in a grass hut” promising you magic.
If you want the last word in record playing detail, please consider buying an Ortofon moving coil cartridge. The least expensive model to consider is the Quintet Blue.
The Q Blue realizes the benefit of MC. The smaller, faster moving generating element, the coil, will outperform the moving magnet 7 days a week. The only challenge of running a moving coil is- you need a quiet phono preamp. Due to the lower output of MCs, if your phono section has a proclivity to hiss and hum, you’ll hear that with MC more than MM.
The Q Blue uses a nude elliptical stylus. It does NOT use a tiny spec of diamond Scotch taped or glued to a post.
The Q Blue uses a thermo epoxy body and aluminum cantilever which Orto makes with remarkable consistency by the thousands.
The Q Blue has an output of .5mV- which is fairly high for a low output MC cart. It weighs 9g and tracks at about 2.1g.
The Q Blue will give you better detail and smoothness than a similarly priced MM. The only catch is, you need that quiet MC phono preamp.
Let us recommend the MoFi UltraPhono for $500. It is clean, quiet, and has two worthwhile buttons you will likely use. It has a mono button if you have mono records. It has a subsonic button if you have records with warps. You do!