Ortofon Omega 1e Moving Magnet Cartridge

I bought this cartridge because it was cheaper that a replacement needle. for an orthofon I have that came stock with my Dual Turntable... I do not play records that often any more so I saw this as a safe inexpensive bet for casual listening at least temporarily till I can afford a replacement needle for my Sure ML140 HE...I was shocked at the sound quality in my Dual turntable...After installing the cartridge and alignment and setting the counter weight... I listened for about 2 1/2 hours, to old LP's that had not been played for a long while, I was so pleased with the sound, you would probably have to pay more that $80 (retail) to get a better cartridge than this for home record playing...( Update) Since then I have noticed some flaws in the cartridge simbalance is slightly pronounced in vocals; making the upper mid-range not as detailed as some of the better cartridges... (Update this may be due to cartridge misalignment...this cartridge is not easy to align because it has no parallel lines but for the price is good and worth the extra effort and also can be upgraded with a better needle...I am now using a Shure M97XE which is a better Cartridge but also cost more....I have been temped to get the Orthofon Stylus 10 upgrade needle to see if that makes this cartridge competitive to the Shure..(Update I did this and it does make the cartridge competitive to the Shure)...I still prefer the sound of the Shure M97XE on some records but The Ortofon Omega has also improved in sound quality....I highly recommend this cartridge for beginners or someone that just bought a used Dual turntable and needs a cartridge...It should also work well on other turntable arms as well as Ortofon claims on their web pages that a lot of their cartridges of similar design are compliance neutral and will work with a variety of Arms..but it is also difficult to align properly due to the lack of parallel lines...There are lots of fascinating stories and rumors about this cartridge on the net...that it started out as a disco cartridge but was fitted with a different stylus for home use...that originally this cartridge was labeled the Ortofon OM 4E and was sold only in Europe but never quite caught on but was originally positioned between the OM 3E and OM 5E in quality....and the stories go on....but what ever the case it is a good cartridge at a bargain price....

The media could not be loaded. This is my 3rd purchase in the past Doesn't are so years of this great Pick up As it is a most reliable performer. I have an SL 2500 professional direct professional direct drive turntable. Having spare headshells with cartridges mounted in them is a big deal to me. Then again so is sound quality. I am not only an audio file that has been around the block a viewed times over the past 50 plus years But a distracted als. When I feature the show Vinyl hour with Dwayne Eddie the reaction of my listeners was extremely positive as I could not believe vinyl could sound that good !Setting up the cartridge is relatively easy Although the competing Audio-Technica VM95C has it beat here with its Mounting threads in the cartridge itself. Nonetheless the omega is fairly easy to mount with the supplied hardware 2 screws 2 nuts.I prefer to use the save vinyl head shells available here on Amazon As the slightly rough outer coating of the head stends to grab the nuts and bolts a lot better than others. Once the cartridge was mounted I then aligned at using the techniques overhang gauge to get it in the ballpark and then my own personal favorite 2 point protractor.This is a bit time consuming if you have not had this experience yet area and s*** with phono cartridges and turned tables but bestation you'll be fine. You may find yourself using language that you never thought possible lol.Once everything was A-line to my satisfaction I reject the tracking weight and set it to precisely 1.75 gras the manufacturer recommends. I then proceeded to give the cartridge about 25 hours of breakim time With some Broadway classical And mild rock. Then it was time to put it to the test with my professor Johnson's astounding sound show that I've had in my collection for years on reference recording records.The omega aced each and every track almost a super faction on both sides of the open yo pay with only a super more expensive hire and pick up Being able to do any better ! It has an amazing ability to reproduce vocals percussion and strings With high accuracy and correSeptember so long as you use a top quality photo stcheck like the rolls VP29.Even more impressive is the longevity of the stylus assembly itself which is a mild elliptical shape. It is well made by the manufacturerachel and I still have my 1st purchase in action after 13 years and it is still sounding quite good if not perfect. So that Bixby's plenty of quality as far as this model is concerned especially at its meager price point of 37 bucks !Stereo separation is absolutely awesome and at least the specified mark of 25DB at 1 k. Are there better pickups on the market? Of course there are But how much more would you have to spend to attain then you might be disappointed. Hang on to your money and enjoy this lovely 5 star performer and you have to love the high visibility of the omega symbol on the stylus assembly especially if your eyes are old and weak like mine.It picks up the ticks and pops that are on your older records but not quite as annoying as other ones As the cartridge is quite forgiving and sounds very clean without without a trace of um. In fact this is the quietestcartridge in my repertoire.With a good phono preamp you will hear plenty of subtlety and nuance With this omega. You'd have to spend a lot more money my friend in order to get appreciably better performance And sound stagingand I do mean much mucho more! Enjoy the music And happy listening PJS2