Ortofon 2M Mono Moving Magnet Cartridge
"...the 2M Mono is a truly exceptional transducer. The sound from this true-mono cartridge just blows away the sound you get from a mono-via-stereo cartridge setup. Because the mono cartridge only deals with the groove signal in a single plane, the resultant sound is impressively quiet compared to the modulation of surface noise and groove geometry shortcomings you often must deal with in playback of mono sources from a stereo cartridge. The end result is that you can really hear very deeply into the music; the 2M Mono sounded magnificent right out of the box and has only gotten better as it's broken in.
...I would say that the 2M Mono has an up-front, somewhat forward quality in its presentation of the music; the images are sharply detailed, but never etched—and the music is never fatiguing to listen to. This cartridge comes with my highest recommendation...
...with the very reasonable, real-world asking price and remarkable performance of the baseline model, I don't see how it could get much better than this!"
Reviewed by Tom Gibbs
Technical Specs:
Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5cm/sec. - 4 mV
Frequency range at - 3dB - 20-22.000 Hz
Frequency response - 20-20.000 Hz + 3 / - 1 dB
Tracking ability at 315Hz at recommended tracking force - 70 µm
Compliance, dynamic, lateral - 18 µm/mN
Stylus type - Nude Spherical
Stylus tip radius - R18 µm
Tracking force range - 1.6-2.0 g (16-20 mN)
Tracking force, recommended - 1.8 g (18 mN)
Tracking angle - 20°
Internal impedance, DC resistance - 700 Ohm
Internal inductance - 350 mH
Recommended load resistance - 47 kOhm
Recommended load capacitance - 150-300 pF
Cartridge colour, body/stylus - Black/White
Cartridge weight without screws - 7.2 g
2M PnP MkII cartridge with integrated headshell weight - 20 g
2M PnP MkII cartridge with integrated headshell length - 52 mm
Replacement stylus unit - 2M Mono (interchangeable with 2M 78)
Stylus lifetime: with proper care, we find that up to 1000 hours is possible without degradation of performance.
2M Series styli interchangeability:
The 2M Series' engines, coils, and magnets configurations are not identical: Red and Blue are identical, so are the Bronze and Black and so are the true mono variants 2M Mono and 2M 78. Likewise, 2M series styli are interchangeable within the below combinations:
- 2M Red, 2M Blue, and 2M Silver
- 2M Bronze and 2M Black
- 2M Mono and 2M 78