I purchased a PNP Bronze from a member who said it was less than two months old. Its the one with the integrated headshell for SME mount or can be used without headshell on a Rega type arm. Well,I undid the screws and was pulling off the tags,<I've been in Analog since mid seventies and own about 20 cartridges>Anyway the pins coming out of the cartridge body pulled right out. This has never happened even on my cheapest junk cartridge. The seller had a reciept from Turntable Needles and Ortofon said they are not authorized dealer. They also said it was clearly a manufacturing issue and should have not happened.
Meanwhile,they say I should go after seller for a refund.Well its not the sellers fault and I won't do that. Neither is it mine,I've removed headshell wires hundreds of times and know what I'm doing.
What amazes me is how PETTY and Crappy a well known respected long time company can be. ITs amazing that a company like Bryston can offer warranty work to the tenth owner in the 19th year and these people won't even stand behind a obvious Quality Control DEFECT Just a word of caution to Ortofon customers,think twice. Steve
I'm retired from a leadership role in a manufacturing company. It's a contrast between have to and want to- the letter of the law and the spirit. If we discovered we improperly manufactured a product, which was not often thankfully, we made an attempt to make things right.
Two main reasons. We wanted people that bought our product to be happy, (regardless of the price point) and we felt it was a good investment in our reputation and brand.
Vendors, retailers, and so forth gain points with me and some of you for going over and above, it's a wonderful thing. Not bootlicking over and above- but fair and accommodating to us and them.
I'm not an expert on anything per say. Just giving an opinion. Fwiw, our company has continued to grow and prosper over the past 27 years.
i am sorry you ended up with a bad deal for whatever reason. Hopefully the audio gods will smile down on you next go around!
goheelz 121 posts 01-31-2016 3:20pm Not fair to Ortofon, given what you have said. You acquire the cartridge third-hand (maybe even fourth hand), presumably to avoid paying retail at a price level where you would enjoy generous warranty protection. It is a way of taking a risk to save money. This time it did not work, and you lost some money by failing to support the manufacturer directly. Welcome to the real world. Buy the (cheap) ticket and take the (cheap) ride. THIS!!!
Not fair to Ortofon, given what you have said. You acquire the cartridge third-hand (maybe even fourth hand), presumably to avoid paying retail at a price level where you would enjoy generous warranty protection. It is a way of taking a risk to save money. This time it did not work, and you lost some money by failing to support the manufacturer directly. Welcome to the real world. Buy the (cheap) ticket and take the (cheap) ride.
Yes you are missing something,I do manufacturing as a living.I started as a Tool and die maker and worked my way to manufacturing engineer. the headshell is molded to the contour of the cartridge.But take the cartridge out with the screws and its a normal Bronze cart.My only gripe gripe was with Ortofon admitting a defect in a almost new cart then telling me to pound sand cause Turntableneedles.com is not authorized dealer So i'll just put it aside and wait for someone to sell a body,because they don't want to spend the rediculous amount of money Ortofon wants for a stylus..
I am missing something I guess? The headshell in the pictures of the PNP model is NOT a typical headshell. They are molded around and contoured for the 2M body. They are not flat and open in the back like most replacement headshells. This tells me that they are indeed made as a one piece unit.
I do agree with you that they could just epoxy the body in and I’m sure the (2) screws on top are for looks in addition to mounting.
Since you still have a pretty new stylus assembly, you could always sell that to recoup a little of your money. They retail for around $290, so you could get a little back.
I also agree with you that someone could offer to sell you just the cartridge body, since the stylus makes up most of the money.
Let me rephrase this,I paid 320.00 used,the seller had a reciept showing it was about 60 days old,he upgraded to a Black.How am I at fault? Maybe I'm missing something?If it were my company,i would say show us reciept and we can work something out, the headshell and expensive stylus are fine,we can sell a cartridge body to you for say 100.00,even that would have been acceptable. Not for them to admit in an email that is rare for that to happen,but clearly a defect.I don't think that website intentionally buys defective factory seconds
Let me say this,has anyone ever had all four pins come out of a cartridge body.No me either.They clearly were not glued in and pulled out easily with no effort.And second, the head headshell is just a standard cartridge on a carbon fiber headshell. If it was meant to be permanent,then why have screws on top which imply its removable. Why not just epoxy it and leave out screws?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To all the people rushing to Ortofons defense,i too like thier product.Unfotunately my seller bought it online at Turntableneedles .com which Ortofon says is not authorized dealer. Ortofon could have offered a cartridge body at least at a discount. However they blew me off and told me to go after seller. Its not gonna make or break me and the money is a night out for me its the disregard.And to you owners of thier product they offer no support unlike its a factory authorized dealer who charges 331/3 percent more.
I bought a brand new Windfield which was internally wired wrong...Ortofon quickly sent me a new one that is perfect. You can't expect that kind of support in your case since you didn't buy it from an Ortofon dealer. I would try to get my money back with a returned cartridge.
Let me make sure I understand. Are you saying you bought an Orotofon cartridge second-hand from an Audiogon member and that the contact pins (one or all 4?) pulled out of the cartridge body when you tried to re-mount the cartridge? If this is basically the case, why would you ever expect Ortofon to be responsible? I must be missing something. Anyway, as you know, Ortofon have been in existence for many decades and like others say above, their cartridges are always well made, among the best in terms of quality of construction. I could see Ortofon agreeing to fix the problem for a fee, but I don't see why they should fix it for free; if they won't touch it, probably Sound Smith will help. Where you may have a beef is Orto not wanting to service it at any cost, if that's the case. I understand that they have taken such a stance with some other products, e.g., A90 re-tips.
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