I've heard the 2M Blue in an A/B test with a $1,000 Clearaudio Virtuoso... The 2M Blue hung with the more expensive cart very well. Pretty darn impressive.
My set up is a Project Carbon (Standard 2M Red) and a pair of Klipsch R15PM. Fantastic, but I will upgrade to the blue when the red wears out. Eventually I would also like to upgrade while still using the speakers but adding a quality pre amp.
I also have this player, upgraded to 2m blue, my advice is: DONT do that, find some other cartridge that can be mounted to your player. The 2, blue is SUPER SUPER boring to listen to, very detailed but NO bass, ZERO bass and zero musicality.. The red actually is much more fun to listen to then the blue...There are alot of threads on audiofourms about this aswell.
If you want t resurrect your Stanton 680/681, get a Jico Shibata stylus for it direct from Japan. I use the Pickering XV-15 style stylus mount and run it with no brush, tracking just a hair over 2.0g. Run through a high quality phono preamp, it should wipe the floor with the 2M Blue and rival cartridges costing much more. I like it better in many ways than my Goldring 1042, which is a much more expensive cartridge. Another option is to send your Stanton to a reputable retipper. A Stanton can be retipped the same way that MC cartridges are, with very high grade stylus options if you want.
I had that Goldring 1042, and I really liked, until clumsy me dropped it on a 45 one afternoon..gone..kaboom, flat wasted ! But it sure played sweet until that fateful day! Just run the Ortofon 2M Black now.. been pretty happy with that one..Keep playing the music !
Great video thank you for taking the time to share your views. I find the ortofon 2m blue to be an exceptionally neutral cartridge and very capable. Its the sweet spot in the 2M range. Red is a good starter. Black is too pricey for a MM and the bronze suffers from distortion at its recommended tracking force.
While I like the blue and think it does sound good, it is a colorful sound. I believe the blue definately has a sound of its own. Not neutral, but enjoyable.
I used to have an Ortofon 2M Blue, but being the clumsy fool that I am, I dropped the tonearm on to the turntable and broke the cantilever. It was a great sounding cartridge, though. Maybe I should get another Blue stylus.
I was rather surprised to hear this.. My clumsy self, LOL, I have a 2M Black, and I drop time2time, but so far, have been very lucky..Give it another chance, I use the Blue, Bronze, and Black..and have been very happy to date.. (past 10 years) Listen to a few of my vids to see what you think..I just put up Riders on the Storm, think the sound was pretty good.. AND...Keep playing the music !
In 2002 I acquired a free haul of 400+ vinyl records along with a free 1970’s Pioneer PL-550 turntable equipped with a Stanton 681 cartridge. I would say the needle performed very well considering it sat unused for almost 2 decades. It lasted for about one year until the diamond piece broke off (bummer) I replaced it with a cheap $40 Audio Technica cartridge which also sounded excellent too. I still use it today but I may replace it with a new 2M Blue.
As always Mr, Collins..a very fair and honest opinion backed up by real world experience to draw your opinion from.. nice work and your table is cool in a modern from love the tonearm would be awesome in chrome..lol..but that's my opinion..im biased..cheers
My personal use of this cart. It has a flat curve (meaning it's like having your EQ set to 0). Very detailed and a bright sound (Not as bright as it's competitor the AT 530EN).
@@EzeeLinux cool - glad you asked this as I am curious about this too. What I understand is what matters with the silver is the cart itself. But I wonder what it's like and if it is an reasonable option to the blue or the red. I find the red a bit harsh and I wonder if the silver cart helps to tame that situation.
My PJ debut Carbon Esprit came with the Red. It’s still new. I contemplated upgrading to Blue, just because I could. (In other words, I’m happy with the Red. Salesperson told me the difference would be negligible AND that it would take 200-400 hours of play before Red was fully broken in. So, I’m holding off. Just FYI.
I bought a blue recently and was shocked when i could not see any diamond point. Looking through a magnifying glass, i finally saw the point. It is so small that it is difficult to see through my old eyes. I had a ortophon cartridge diamond break off after playing just two records. Thankfully it wasn’t expensive. But i expected the pointto be as visible as it is on the red.
I agree with you, 4 or 5 grams tracking force is the standard from the fifties and isn't appropriate for modern use. One or two plays probably won't hurt, but you don't want to keep going at 5 grams track-force for too long and not iwth your favourite records. I honestly didn't know, and I'm sad to hear that Shure has given up on cartridges and record styli . My favourite that i'm still using is a Shure n-44 that is a bit of a throwback design to the 70s, but it still sounds great. I guess I'll have to buy the imitation replacement needles from the various internet sources. Good video, though, and I'm glad you like your Ortofon blue. I'll have to consider it when I make my next cartidgel upgrade. :)
Great video ! Enjoyed muchly, and you brought out a LOT of great points, & stats.. I have been using the 2M Blue just about since the beginning, and when we go out and do shows, ( With my "Drag-A-Long" Technics 1200MK it is our use of choice..we play strictly 45's at the shows, and it seems to do great for variety of 45,recording&matter ) At home, and on my channel, I play solely the Technics 1200GLD, with Ortofon 2M Black...It seems to be such a forgiving combination..I have bought/used Technics since early 70's, and still have a Belt-Drive SLB-3 that works great..I play over Polk RTi A9 Tower Speakers for my home vids, on a Technics 1200GLD (#75) and of course, Peavey at our "OUTDOOR" events, where I can attest to the 2M Blue, and the great performance AND forgiveness for us human error people ! I need all that extra help, LOL..this old DJ fingers,hands, and control don't work all that great anymore! ( And YES , those Stanton were the ones in the day..pretty good, they were.. Nice video, info, and I just subbed..Keep the info coming, Sir !~
I listened through, but not sure I got the right interpretation... I am looking for new styli for my Stanton and Pickering cartridges. But, it sounds like you are saying 1) there are no quality replacements available, and 2) even if they were, the cartridges themselves have atrophied parts and are not going to work properly. Am I correct in this interpretation? Thanks!
There are a few out there. You can check out LP Gear and TurntableNeddles for replacement stylus for Pickering and Stanton. If you already have the carts then it may be worth the effort. :)
Instead of listening to these cartridges through RUclips's compressed audio, and trying to pick out the sibilants and splatter why not use one the MANY audiophile test records and connecting a scope to the output of the pre-amp. To see the waveforms at various frequencies and velocities in comparing cartridges, and actually SEE what each cartridge was capable of reproducing would be more enlightening. As you may know, high-end audio "salons" use scopes and distortion analyzers to set up high end cartridge/tonearms. Btw, I wish these RUclips audio reviewers would STOP saying "turntable" when talking about cartridge compatibility, its the TONEARM that determines how a cartridge will perform. The TURNTABLE only spins the record and has no direct influence on the catridge. I myself have a Kenwood KD500 TURNTABLE and on this I have mounted a SME Series3 TONEARM with an Ortofon X3-MC (moving coil) cartridge. This arm plays VERY nicely with the X3-MC, however, considering the age of my setup (1987), I am about to try an Ortifon 2M Bronze. If there is a NOTICEABLE improvment I will stick with the Bronze. THANK YOU !
Would the Ortofon work better on a recapped REVOX B790 where the tiny belt has been replaced you know the belt that drives the cartridge from one end of the tonearm to the other and back again as the tiny belt is prone to becoming sticky then goes gooey or getting a MARANTZ TT143 turntable which will not play unless the lid is down as the tonearm is in the lid of the turntable.
@@DAVIDGREGORYKERR I've had a few linear tracking tables... I found that the added complexity offsets the tracking accuracy. I never had one where I could not hear the arm move and they all got weird after a while. :)
If you're talking about turntables that play records with a laser, I think they are too expensive for me to have an opinion about. A friend in Japan had access to one and sent me some hi-res recordings. It doesn't sound that much different than a really good regular turntable.
@@EzeeLinux Back in the 80s I imagined it would be good if they invented a laser record player to mitigate scratches and crackle on playback, the other thing was to have 78 music on CD without the noise, nowadays I detest CD for the 44.1 sound and I enjoy hearing my 78s on the LP120
I’m currently using an inexpensive Ortofon 10 cartridge I could easily replace the stylist with a new because I believe it’s lived it’s short life. I’m thinking making the purchase of the Ortofon Blue as an upgrade to my JVC QLF4 turntable. I’m running the turntable with a Schiit Audio Freya+ pre amp. Would you seriously make the purchase considering the Ortofon Blue now retails for $240ish I have the money but just looking for recommendations
I have a Blue but don't use it... I think the best bang for the buck right now is the Nagaoka MP-110. These days I'm running a 30 year old Stanton 500 Mk II Broadcaster... Puts everything available today for under $500 to shame.
I've seen some good reviews on Grado. I'm looking to buy a new phono cartridge, so i'm going to watch/read as many reviews as I can. Thanks for the review Joe.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I've heard the 2M Blue in an A/B test with a $1,000 Clearaudio Virtuoso... The 2M Blue hung with the more expensive cart very well. Pretty darn impressive.
Had a Stanton 681EEE mounted in a BIC 980 turntable in 1978. Loved that cart!
That was nice combo!
My set up is a Project Carbon (Standard 2M Red) and a pair of Klipsch R15PM. Fantastic, but I will upgrade to the blue when the red wears out. Eventually I would also like to upgrade while still using the speakers but adding a quality pre amp.
I also have this player, upgraded to 2m blue, my advice is: DONT do that, find some other cartridge that can be mounted to your player. The 2, blue is SUPER SUPER boring to listen to, very detailed but NO bass, ZERO bass and zero musicality.. The red actually is much more fun to listen to then the blue...There are alot of threads on audiofourms about this aswell.
@@swederetard Interesting. I will do more research. I appreciate your response.
If you want t resurrect your Stanton 680/681, get a Jico Shibata stylus for it direct from Japan. I use the Pickering XV-15 style stylus mount and run it with no brush, tracking just a hair over 2.0g. Run through a high quality phono preamp, it should wipe the floor with the 2M Blue and rival cartridges costing much more. I like it better in many ways than my Goldring 1042, which is a much more expensive cartridge. Another option is to send your Stanton to a reputable retipper. A Stanton can be retipped the same way that MC cartridges are, with very high grade stylus options if you want.
I had that Goldring 1042, and I really liked, until clumsy me dropped it on a
45 one afternoon..gone..kaboom, flat wasted ! But it sure played sweet until
that fateful day! Just run the Ortofon 2M Black now.. been pretty happy with
that one..Keep playing the music !
Great video thank you for taking the time to share your views.
I find the ortofon 2m blue to be an exceptionally neutral cartridge and very capable.
Its the sweet spot in the 2M range.
Red is a good starter. Black is too pricey for a MM and the bronze suffers from distortion at its recommended tracking force.
While I like the blue and think it does sound good, it is a colorful sound. I believe the blue definately has a sound of its own. Not neutral, but enjoyable.
I used to have an Ortofon 2M Blue, but being the clumsy fool that I am, I dropped the tonearm on to the turntable and broke the cantilever. It was a great sounding cartridge, though. Maybe I should get another Blue stylus.
I was rather surprised to hear this.. My clumsy self, LOL, I have a 2M Black, and I drop time2time, but so far, have been very lucky..Give it another chance,
I use the Blue, Bronze, and Black..and have been very happy to date.. (past
10 years) Listen to a few of my vids to see what you think..I just put up
Riders on the Storm, think the sound was pretty good.. AND...Keep playing the music !
In 2002 I acquired a free haul of 400+ vinyl records along with a free 1970’s Pioneer PL-550 turntable equipped with a Stanton 681 cartridge. I would say the needle performed very well considering it sat unused for almost 2 decades. It lasted for about one year until the diamond piece broke off (bummer) I replaced it with a cheap $40 Audio Technica cartridge which also sounded excellent too. I still use it today but I may replace it with a new 2M Blue.
As always Mr, Collins..a very fair and honest opinion backed up by real world experience to draw your opinion from.. nice work and your table is cool in a modern from love the tonearm would be awesome in chrome..lol..but that's my opinion..im biased..cheers
My personal use of this cart. It has a flat curve (meaning it's like having your EQ set to 0). Very detailed and a bright sound (Not as bright as it's competitor the AT 530EN).
Hey Joe did you hear about ortaphone 2m silver cartridge interest hear what ya think boutique it.
This vid is old now. I have an update coming up. :)
@@EzeeLinux cool - glad you asked this as I am curious about this too. What I understand is what matters with the silver is the cart itself. But I wonder what it's like and if it is an reasonable option to the blue or the red. I find the red a bit harsh and I wonder if the silver cart helps to tame that situation.
My PJ debut Carbon Esprit came with the Red. It’s still new. I contemplated upgrading to Blue, just because I could. (In other words, I’m happy with the Red. Salesperson told me the difference would be negligible AND that it would take 200-400 hours of play before Red was fully broken in. So, I’m holding off. Just FYI.
You only need about 20 hours for breakin. Mine opened up after 5 - 6 records.
I upgraded to a blue. The difference was staggering
I bought a blue recently and was shocked when i could not see any diamond point. Looking through a magnifying glass, i finally saw the point. It is so small that it is difficult to see through my old eyes. I had a ortophon cartridge diamond break off after playing just two records. Thankfully it wasn’t expensive. But i expected the pointto be as visible as it is on the red.
I agree with you, 4 or 5 grams tracking force is the standard from the fifties and isn't appropriate for modern use. One or two plays probably won't hurt, but you don't want to keep going at 5 grams track-force for too long and not iwth your favourite records. I honestly didn't know, and I'm sad to hear that Shure has given up on cartridges and record styli . My favourite that i'm still using is a Shure n-44 that is a bit of a throwback design to the 70s, but it still sounds great. I guess I'll have to buy the imitation replacement needles from the various internet sources. Good video, though, and I'm glad you like your Ortofon blue. I'll have to consider it when I make my next cartidgel upgrade. :)
Great video ! Enjoyed muchly, and you brought out a LOT of great points, & stats.. I have been using the 2M Blue just about since the beginning, and when we go out and do shows,
( With my "Drag-A-Long" Technics 1200MK it is our use of choice..we play strictly 45's at
the shows, and it seems to do great for variety of 45,recording&matter ) At home, and on
my channel, I play solely the Technics 1200GLD, with Ortofon 2M Black...It seems to be
such a forgiving combination..I have bought/used Technics since early 70's, and still have
a Belt-Drive SLB-3 that works great..I play over Polk RTi A9 Tower Speakers for my home vids, on a Technics 1200GLD (#75) and of course, Peavey at our "OUTDOOR" events, where I can attest to the 2M Blue,
and the great performance AND forgiveness for us human error people ! I need all that extra help, LOL..this old DJ fingers,hands, and control don't work all that great anymore!
( And YES , those Stanton were the ones in the day..pretty good, they were.. Nice video,
info, and I just subbed..Keep the info coming, Sir !~
I listened through, but not sure I got the right interpretation... I am looking for new styli for my Stanton and Pickering cartridges. But, it sounds like you are saying 1) there are no quality replacements available, and 2) even if they were, the cartridges themselves have atrophied parts and are not going to work properly. Am I correct in this interpretation? Thanks!
There are a few out there. You can check out LP Gear and TurntableNeddles for replacement stylus for Pickering and Stanton. If you already have the carts then it may be worth the effort. :)
Instead of listening to these cartridges through RUclips's compressed audio, and trying to pick out the sibilants and splatter why not use one the MANY audiophile test records and connecting a scope to the output of the pre-amp. To see the waveforms at various frequencies and velocities in comparing cartridges, and actually SEE what each cartridge was capable of reproducing would be more enlightening. As you may know, high-end audio "salons" use scopes and distortion analyzers to set up high end cartridge/tonearms. Btw, I wish these RUclips audio reviewers would STOP saying "turntable" when talking about cartridge compatibility, its the TONEARM that determines how a cartridge will perform. The TURNTABLE only spins the record and has no direct influence on the catridge. I myself have a Kenwood KD500 TURNTABLE and on this I have mounted a SME Series3 TONEARM with an Ortofon X3-MC (moving coil) cartridge. This arm plays VERY nicely with the X3-MC, however, considering the age of my setup (1987), I am about to try an Ortifon 2M Bronze. If there is a NOTICEABLE improvment I will stick with the Bronze. THANK YOU !
Would the Ortofon work better on a recapped REVOX B790 where the tiny belt has been replaced you know the belt that drives the cartridge from one end of the tonearm to the other and back again as the tiny belt is prone to becoming sticky then goes gooey or getting a MARANTZ TT143 turntable which will not play unless the lid is down as the tonearm is in the lid of the turntable.
I don't know anything about the Revox so I couldn't say.
@@DAVIDGREGORYKERR I've had a few linear tracking tables... I found that the added complexity offsets the tracking accuracy. I never had one where I could not hear the arm move and they all got weird after a while. :)
maybe it the the drive belt that turns into a goo and needs to be replaced after cleanup with isopropanol
What is your opinion on the laser LP tables?
If you're talking about turntables that play records with a laser, I think they are too expensive for me to have an opinion about. A friend in Japan had access to one and sent me some hi-res recordings. It doesn't sound that much different than a really good regular turntable.
@@EzeeLinux I believe the sound that comes off them is digital, so there's no real benefit, not sure what the sampling and bit rate is
@@manFromPeterborough No, they are analog. It just scans the groove with light instead of a chunk of diamond.
@@EzeeLinux Back in the 80s I imagined it would be good if they invented a laser record player to mitigate scratches and crackle on playback, the other thing was to have 78 music on CD without the noise, nowadays I detest CD for the 44.1 sound and I enjoy hearing my 78s on the LP120
I’m currently using an inexpensive Ortofon 10 cartridge I could easily replace the stylist with a new because I believe it’s lived it’s short life. I’m thinking making the purchase of the Ortofon Blue as an upgrade to my JVC QLF4 turntable. I’m running the turntable with a Schiit Audio Freya+ pre amp. Would you seriously make the purchase considering the Ortofon Blue now retails for $240ish I have the money but just looking for recommendations
I have a Blue but don't use it... I think the best bang for the buck right now is the Nagaoka MP-110. These days I'm running a 30 year old Stanton 500 Mk II Broadcaster... Puts everything available today for under $500 to shame.
I've seen some good reviews on Grado. I'm looking to buy a new phono cartridge, so i'm going to watch/read as many reviews as I can. Thanks for the review Joe.
I have always stayed away from Grado because they are not shielded and I've heard the y are prone to hum. :)
@@EzeeLinux Craftsmanship is another issue. I remember watching a video of two separate brand new Grados having off centered cantilevers.
i'm gonna give up with these. I'm done, i have my preferences whitch i like to use....
N