Ortofon 2M Black in the house....

[Vintage Pete]

In all of my audio journeys, the beauty of vinyl has never been too far from my mind. Yes, I took long hiatuses, but every so often I'd go back and spin some vinyl and would always be anywhere from pleased to astonished at how good a fine vinyl recording can sound. You could say my table is a modest one, especially when we browse around this site and look at some of the high end tables our members here have in their stables. But I always was really pleased with the Harmon-Kardon T60 turntable I bought way back in 1983. It had, and still has, a lot going for it: Belt drive with a very solid plinth, a floating suspension that harkens back to the old AR XA table (who didn't own one?), a nice, low mass straight tonearm with a carbon fiber headshell, variable capacitance trim, a record weight, an acoustically absorbent mat, and nice gold plated output jacks that allow the user to use whatever interconnects he wants. I paid $459 for this table in 1983. Along with the table I purchased an Ortofon MC10 moving coil cartridge with an STM-72 step up transformer. (my old Crown IC-150A preamp lacked an MC input, as does my McIntosh C40). I paid $235 for the MC10/STM-72 combo back in 1983. Both have served me well all these years, and still sounded surprisingly good, especially for their age. In the last year or two I had upgraded the mat, cables and Dan aka jdandy sent me home from one of my visits with a nice Aluminati sound record weight, a nicer weight than my original (I have not weighed the two for comparison but I believe they are pretty close). Over the years, I began having some issues with the STM-72, due to close spacing of the RCA jacks (stress resulting in some internal connection problems). The MC10 was an entry level MC cartridge, but I really can't say enough good things about its performance and longevity. The turntable itself is in as close to mint condition as they come, really not a mark or blemish on it anywhere.

After repeated recommendations from Dan, and from the many excellent reviews I have read on the Ortofon 2M Black, I have pulled the trigger on one these cartridges, the flagship of the Ortofon MM line. Sweetening up the picture is a second cable upgrade, coming in the form of a gently used pair of 1.5M Wireworld Silver Eclipse unbalanced interconnects, in a sweet deal from Ivan. Ivan always comes through, as we well know!

The cartridge and cables arrived just over 1 week ago, and of course I installed them immediately. To say I am pleased is an understatement. Right out of the box, it is obvious this is an extremely fine cartridge. It is very engaging, sound staging and imaging is great, with a holographic quality. Fabulous dynamics as well. And it's a nice looking cartridge to boot.

Here's a little analog eye candy of my humble rig....cables first:



A few shots of the turntable with the 2M Black installed....














I've been having a blast revisiting my favorite LP's...I've also ordered a new replacement for my old Juice newton "Quiet lies" LP, as well as two "audiophile" 180 gram pressings of two of my favorite Loreena McKennitt albums. In addition I have a "Spin Clean" record cleaner on the way from Needle Doctor. I was really impressed what one of these relatively inexpensive cleaners can do. I had taken several LP's up to Dan's a while back and was quite surprised with the results.

I'm more than impressed with the 2M Black. I have no doubt that it will improve with some break in hours. I fact, I think it already has, and I've probably only accumulated 15 hours playing time on it, maybe less.

I give the Ortofon 2M Black a solid two thumbs up.

Vinyl lives!

[jdandy]

Pete.......Nice review and photos. Having owned and enjoyed the Ortofon 2M Black I was confident you would find it a nice strep up from your aging phono cartridge and transformer arrangement. Now you have a clean straight wire connection from the 2M Black to the C40 moving magnet input, and we both know the C40 moving magnet phono stage is very good. I am also pleased to know you will be cleaning your vinyl. This will yield an automatic performance boost to your analog experience. Congratulations on your turntable refresh. Happy listening.

[Maks]

Congrats, the 2M Black is a heck of a cart! I use one on my VPI and in the past also had one on a Thorens TD-125. Enjoy!

[Joe]

Yes, Pete- another in a great series of audio weekends!
They just keep on coming, don't they?

Congrats on this one, sweetness prevails!

[Masterlu]

Pete... Looking real good! Nicely done.

[vegaracer1]

Love my 2m black as well. Nice looking setup.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

I've probably only accumulated 15 hours playing time on it, maybe less.

Pete.......Come on, lets get some break-in hours behind you. Spin some vinyl.

[Vintage Pete]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Pete.......Come on, lets get some break-in hours behind you. Spin some vinyl.

Thank you Gentlemen!

Dan....Pretty busy with work taking up a lot. Then there is Christmas, a busy time. 4 days of work coming up, then off until January 3. That'll give me some spinning time. And there is that new vinyl coming....

[essjay]

I am forced to agree with you all, my 2m black raised my Thorens 124mk2 to another level once settled in.

Running it with 1.65g as of last night, up from 1.5g, a nice improvement again.

[Vintage Pete]

Originally Posted by essjay

I am forced to agree with you all, my 2m black raised my Thorens 124mk2 to another level once settled in.

Running it with 1.65g as of last night, up from 1.5g, a nice improvement again.

essjay....that's interesting. I'm running mine at 1.5g, which is the "recommended" force according to Ortofon.