Review on Ortofon Red MM Cartridge by Darryl Blumenthal

Posted by Mark on Monica's account. I recently bought a 1980's Pioneer PL-300 turntable at a flea market. The unit was in excellent condition but I wanted something more in the audio department. He had an Audio-Technica cartridge of unknown age and how many users. Switching to this Ortofon 2M has undeniably improved the sound quality just like that. Installation only took a few minutes and the included instructions were pretty self-explanatory. I installed on an existing shell, no problems at all. I also bought a Hudson hi-fi protractor to make sure the needle tip and cartridge lined up correctly, which is also very easy and inexpensive. I then adjusted the follower arm counterweight to 1.8 grams as instructed. When I "dropped the needle" on the first album (Police - Ghost in the Machine) I immediately noticed a wider dynamic range, deeper low frequencies (but not muddy), very clear and defined mids and crisp highs. With subsequent albums by artists such as Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Genesis, the sound has improved noticeably. The box contained two sets of screws for different pickup thicknesses, a screwdriver and a needle brush. Again, for $99 this sounds like a great investment in improving the sound quality of vinyl to me. The delivery of Revain Prime was perfect.