(aabove: The Ortofon M15 E Super)
THE ONLY CARTRIDGE WE KNOW OF THAT WILL DO FULL JUSTICE TO A NEW GENERATION OF STEREO RECORDS.
For the first time in many years, all that can be put onto stereo records by professional disc-cutting equipment can be gotten off them by a cartridge -- the new Ortofon M15 E Super.
It is the only pickup we know of that not only can handle the peak levels and full dynamic range now possible on records, but while doing so can operate below the wear threshold of modern discs, preserving their full quality for playing after playing.
As makers of studio record -cutting equipment (Ortofon supplies equipment to recording companies and studios around the world), we know the capabilities of the newest generation of cutters, which for the first time can clearly put onto records a dynamic range approaching that of master tape. The maximum high-frequency levels these cutters will record also permit the first real approximation of the full "live" intensity of cymbals, brass, snares, and other demanding instruments.
On the test record that best reflects these new capabilities (#2 in a series recorded by the German High-Fidelity Institute), most other pickups begin to reveal audible (and, on an oscilloscope, visible) shatter at a recording level of 70 to 80 µm. Only the Ortofon M15 E Super goes to the record's 100 µm limit (and beyond) with no audible or visible indication of difficulty. The photos of oscilloscope traces at right are an accurate indication of the new Ortofon's superior performance.
That test is a decidedly accurate reflection of audible differences in the real world of the listener's living room. What it means is that on the most demanding stereo records that can now be made, exactly the records that someone with really excellent equipment and a habit of listening closely is likely to buy, only the new Ortofon is likely to handle everything with no sign of strain or "fuzzing."
A) Essentially undistorted lateral tracking by the Ortofon M 15 E Super of a 300-Hz test tone recorded at a peak amplitude of 100 µm. Tracking force : 1 gram.
B) A more expensive cartridge shows significant distortion at an amplitude of only 70 µm, tracking at 1 1/2 grams in the same tone arm.
C) The same cartridge (same arm and tracking force) indicates unlistenable performance at 100 µm
The M 15 E Super was designed specifically to achieve this performance while tracking (at a force of 1 gram) below the modulus of elasticity-the threshold beyond which the vinyl of a record groove doesn't immediately spring back into shape after the stylus passes. (It is an absolute must to track below this point if permanent damage is to be avoided.) To make this possible, the Ortofon's unique VMS (Vari able Magnetic Shunt) design combines very low moving mass (0.5 milligram), very high structural strength in the moving system, and very high stylus compliance -- 50 x 10^-6 cm/dyne in the horizontal plane, 30 x 10^-6 cm/dyne vertically.
The new Ortofon is the latest product of a company involved with records and professional studio recording equipment for more than fifty years. Manufactured and tested at Ortofon's factories in Denmark, the M 15 E Super is also rechecked in the United States after shipment.
We will be happy to send you full specifications, descriptive material (including reviews), and a list of Ortofon dealers if you will write us at the address below.
Ortofon. 9 EAST 38TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10016
(Source: Audio magazine, Apr. 1974 )
Also see: Ortofon cutterheads and phono cartridges (June 1977)
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