Fremer reviews the $8499 cartridge very positively, but it takes three different samples of the cartridge for him to get there. The first sample exhibited "an incompatibility between the adhesives used and the elastomer of which the cartridge's damper is made." Fremer notes "[e]vidently, however, this problem didn't affect every Anna that left the factory." Wow, what a relief. In the second sample, apparently "some the glue that secures the stylus in the cantilever had dripped." The third sample, after 100 hrs of break-in finally delivered. Fremer suggests buying and using an USB microscope as part of the cartridge buying process.
Does anyone else think this is absolutely nuts? It seems to me, at this price level, every single cartridge should be absolutely perfect. Haven't Ortofon heard of quality control? This also applies to Lyra whose $9500 Atlas cartridge had the stylus affixed to the cantilever at an angle that made it virtually impossible to get the SRA of 92 degrees.
Nandric The cart producers get the whole cantilever/stylus combo from their supplier. The so called 'retip' is usually a simple substitution of this combo. The 'real retip' by which a new stylus is glued in the existing cantilever seems to be much more difficult job to do. So the solution of the 'stylus problem' is obvious. To 'virtually rebuild the cartridge' and ask unreasonable price make no sense to me. If one need to change the tyre one will rarely rebuild the whole car because of the tyre. No wonder the most of us use repair cervices like Ledermann , Axel Schurholz, Van den Hul, etc.
I agree. Generous trade-in programs can be a partial answer to the retip problem as well. I know Lyra offers a pretty good trade-in deal with their cartridges, regardless of their shape. That's just good business as it provides a strong incentive for ownership continuity. But I still think a retip should not cost almost as much as a brand new cartridge given that the stylus will wear out even with very responsible listening habits and utmost care taken, possibly quite quickly if someone plays their records a lot. It would be unthinkable to have to pay nearly as much as the cost of an amplifier every time power tubes had to be replaced. But then I guess you can't just replace the stylus yourself...
Kiddman, Good points. The smaller the industry the more likely this will happen. We are the guinea pigs. What's even worse is when there is an obvious design flaw that the company ignores that is a cheap fix. I've seen people complaining about the same problem for years. You would think the company would have solved it by then.
Jeb, .060 variance in length is hardly something to worry about considering the headshell has slots to adjust the overhang. Wiring problems are not good though. The magnets are adjustable I assume. Those problems may have happened in shipping or someone had a bad day. I assume the issues were addressed in a timely manner?
Speaking of poor QC ,a friend bought a brand new Graham Phantom tone arm. This tone arm had wiring problems right out of the Box! The Magna Glide system was loose, both magnets were touching! Ordered two tone arms, one was .060 thousands longer than the other! 5K retail , what a big joke.
"IMHO any manufacturer who is "beta" testing on the public has no right to be in business"
I would agree, but what you don't know is how many of the supposed "great names" essentially do this exact thing! Little scientific testing, designs by guys who are little more than garage tinkerers, thrown out there with a high price tag. It's all over the industry.
The cart producers get the whole cantilever/stylus combo from their supplier. The so called 'retip' is usually a simple substitution of this combo. The 'real retip' by which a new stylus is glued in the existing cantilever seems to be much more difficult job to do. So the solution of the 'stylus problem' is obvious. To 'virtually rebuild the cartridge' and ask unreasonable price make no sense to me. If one need to change the tyre one will rarely rebuild the whole car because of the tyre. No wonder the most of us use repair cervices like Ledermann , Axel Schurholz, Van den Hul, etc.
It is the 1200 - 1500 hours life span of the replicant 100 stylus that has me staying clear of buying another Ortofon cart with this extreme stylus profile.
The Lyra micro line stylus luckily will last at least double that.
The rebuild prices are not unreasonable as they have to virtually rebuild the cartridge.
For me my A90 is unlikely to be rebuilt, however my Atlas surely will.
Good points. In fact, to your point, Fremer had his Ortofon A90 retipped at a cost of "a few thousand dollars, close to the A90's original price of $4200." To me, that's absurd. In my opinion, if indeed most styli can only perform best for about a year with moderate listening habits, which is an awfully short length of time compared to other equipment, one retip should either be offered if not gratis, at least at a fraction of the original price.
Retipping once a year is no big deal if your cartridge manufacture does it for a reasonable cost. Unfortunately most of these uber expensive carts cost at least half the retail price to be retipped by the original manufacture if they will do it at all. If you have someone else retip it then it likely wont sound the same. That could be good or bad.
Personally I'm with Lewm on not spending this much on a cart. I've heard both the Atlas and the Anna in other peoples systems and they are good but I'm not convinced they are worth the money.
Perhaps to make matters worse, in the Manufacturer's Comments section, an Ortofon rep offers absolutely no explanation or even a mention of the problems, which Fremer spends a good portion of the review on. Seems like an awful PR job on Ortofon's part.
I agree with Lewm that for most analog audiophiles the review might be of little practical interests given Anna's price category, but if the top of the heap cartridges exhibit such defects, it makes you wonder about cheaper models, and whether you actually have to get lucky to get a defect-free cartridge, rather than the other way round. That's a pretty depressing thought.
Another interesting topic Fremer writes about before he goes on to review the Anna is the stylus lifespan, and effects of playing records with a worn stylus. Extreme profile styli such as the Replicant or line-contact apparently last for not longer than 1000 hrs under ideal conditions, which seems very short to me. Fremer actually says this is the situation with most styli. For someone who listens 20 hrs a week, which I think is on the low side for many Audiogon members, that would mean that they should retip or replace their cartridge after a year! Again, that seems nuts!
Finally, Fremer says that the proposition that a worn stylus tears up records is a myth since the edges of the stylus get duller, not sharper, with use (I guess that assumes no chipping or other damage to the stylus). I regularly hear right channel noise from used records, which I've always attributed to no anti-skating being used by the previous owner, so as much as I like what he is saying, I'm not sure whether I believe it. What's everyone's take on this?
Thanks, Actus. I saw the review by Fremer and just cut to the chase by reading his concluding remarks. Therefore, I missed his description of the issues you have raised. It is very surprising to me that Ortofon would be guilty of such sins of omission (quality control, mainly). Over the years, I have come to think very highly of their capacity to produce beautifully made products, whether one likes their sound, or not. I own an MC7500, arguably the father of their subsequent TOTL cartridges, down to and including the Anna. It is beautifully made. All Ortofons I have owned fit that description, and I never saw or heard of one with such glaring defects right out of the box. So, I don't really know what to do with Fremer's report. However, for me it is moot, since I am not a customer for cartridges in that price category, just as a matter of personal choice.
It is disturbing that a reviewer has to go through 3 samples to get a good one.
There may be no official standard for SRA but somewhere around 92 degrees has worked best for the carts and records that I own. Using ones ears is obviously required to dial it in after that. It is important to pay attention to SRA and not just expect that the SRA is in the ball park when the arm is level IME.
Yes, nuts anyone would be buying such high priced junk. That Fremer did just not return the original cartridge and be done with it, suggests it was the price point that seduced him. Fremer fell into the hi end trap of 'the higher the price, the greater the product'. What all this tell us is that 'value' is never part of Fremer's mind set.
Despite the impression which you may now have, there is no industry standard for SRA. None. There is more of a standard for VTA (originally decided as 15 degrees, which is the origin of Shure's "V-15" name, and later gradually revised upwards until it reached 20 degrees) than there is for SRA.
Yes. But now we have a "Standard": Fremer That replaces everything.
If it takes them 3 tries to get it right for Michael Fremer, you can guess how much care they take in making the one they sell you.
The customer gets the most respect, the maximum care, the ultra quality control, don't worry.
If I were sending a cartridge to Michael Fremer for review I would have it triple checked by the guy who designed it, the guy who makes it, and the head quality control guy.
I would make sure it was burned in and listened to by the best ears in the company until everyone was sure it sounded as good as it possibly could. I would then have it hand delivered to Michael and I would check with him regularly to see if he was having any problems or had any questions. I guess that's why I'm not rich.
If it takes them 3 tries to get it right for Michael Fremer, you can guess how much care they take in making the one they sell you.
Jonathan, Thank you for weighing in, and clarifying the Atlas issue. I was not aware of the correction. I know Lyra is known for the high quality of their cartridges, and I myself am a very happy owner of a Delos, so it's good to hear it was a mistake.
Your linked posts were very informative on the issue of the RTA and SRA as well, but perhaps also disheartening to those, like me, who do like the idea of an industry standard that would allow an optimal setting for most records, rather than having to adjust for every record in one's collection.
Actusreus, I also read this review and thought along the same lines as you. IMHO any manufacturer who is "beta" testing on the public has no right to be in business. The cartridge in question had better produce and produce from the get-go. OTOH, I have to wonder if MF was 'pulling his punches' as a lot of reviewer's are known to do. What would MF have said if instead of the third Anna being just right, it took say fifty or more before they got it right? Would that have been ok?? I know one thing, If I as a consumer, received one of these high priced cartridges and it was eliciting the same problems as the first two that MF received, i would be one mighty mad girl. Would I then go on to recommend this companies products even if they finally got it right after a few tries....I don't think so.
In the original article, Stereophile managed to get the SRA photos mixed up. Stereophile put someone other than Michael in charge of matching the photos to the captions, and they dropped the ball. I believe that Stereophile published a correction in a later issue.
Despite the impression which you may now have, there is no industry standard for SRA. None. There is more of a standard for VTA (originally decided as 15 degrees, which is the origin of Shure's "V-15" name, and later gradually revised upwards until it reached 20 degrees) than there is for SRA. The only documentation for the 92-degree SRA that I have been able to find in any language is the John Risch article, and that never became part of any industry standard.
I have written more about SRA on the "What's Best" forum, on a thread called "The Importance of VTA, SRA and Azimuth".
From page 13 and on: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?536-The-importance-of-VTA-SRA-and-Azimuth-pics/page13
That's High End. On the other side he never checked the speed stability from his turntable recommendations...
It seems to me, at this price level, every single cartridge should be absolutely perfect.
Don't be so picky. Koetsu has normally a non straight cantilever and get one huge recommendation after the next ...
... Atlas cartridge had the stylus affixed to the cantilever at an angle that made it virtually impossible to get the SRA of 92 degrees.
Hm, cheap cartridges are bought mainly from persons who need some time to get the money for it and they are critical...other customers don't care and can afford that. They prefer stoning the messenger instead... that is much more fun :-)
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