Ortofon 2M Bronze - MM cartridge Ortofon

Cartridges - Moving Magnet - Ortofon 2M series

There are product families that define an entire market. The Ortofon 2M series is one of them. Since its introduction, it has become the best-selling MM cartridge family in sophisticated hi-fi - described by specialist media such as LowBeats as the "golf class of cartridges": The consistently developed mid-range that the whole world has agreed on. Every year, up to 500,000 cartridges leave the production halls in Nakskov alone, Ortofon's production site in southern Denmark - and a significant number of them bear the characteristic 2M housing with its clear lines and color-coded model identification.

What makes the 2M series so special is its inner logic: all four stereo models - Red, Blue, Bronze and Black - share the same basic design principle and the same acoustically optimized magnet structure with minimized stray fields. The differences between the models are concentrated in three areas: the stylus cut, the stylus carrier and the housing and coil material. Three parameters that together shape the sound of a pickup like almost nothing else. And they make it possible to read the 2M series for what it is: an orderly increase in resolution, richness of detail and playing pleasure - comprehensible step by step, euro by euro.

The 2M Red is the world's best-selling MM cartridge - and for good reason. It is standard original equipment on turntables in the 400 to 1,000 euro range, from Pro-Ject to Thorens to Rega. Anyone who owns one of these turntables will already be familiar with the Red. And anyone who doesn't should know it: It is the cartridge that sets the standard for everything that comes after it.

Technically, the 2M Red works with a spherically cut, bonded diamond on an aluminum carrier. The spherical cut - a round needle point - is the most robust and production-friendly cut, but offers a relatively wide contact surface to the groove wall. This means: very good-natured tracking, very forgiving of slightly dirty records or inaccurate setups, but with a medium level of resolution. The sound is warm, powerful and dynamic - the treble is creamy rather than analytical, the room is wide and the bass is driving. The 2M Red is simply ideal for rock, pop and any music listener who wants to enjoy music first. Once properly adjusted, the occasionally described roughness in the high frequencies largely disappears - and what remains is an honest, committed pickup without any weaknesses.

The 2M Blue shares the same body and generator as the Red - the crucial difference lies in the stylus. Instead of a glued, spherically cut diamond, the Blue has a naked, elliptically cut diamond. Two differences that really make a difference: A naked diamond is fixed directly in the needle carrier, without glue - the moving mass decreases, the diamond can follow groove modulations faster and more precisely. The elliptical cut, on the other hand, creates a narrower, elongated contact surface to the groove wall and touches the groove much closer to the point where the cutting stylus worked during mastering.

The result is immediately audible in direct comparison to the Red: the upper bass is more audible, the sound is more transparent, the stage is wider and more colorful. The Blue sounds amazingly modern and precise - without becoming analytically cold. If you own a 2M Red, you can upgrade it immediately with the Blue needle. If you go straight for it, you get a pickup that has hardly any competition in its price range. Numerous specialist reviews confirm this: The 2M Blue is one of the best cartridge arguments in the entire affordable hi-fi segment.

The 2M Bronze fundamentally changes the playing field. The housing is now made of a harder, less resonant plastic. The coils are wound from silver-plated copper wire - a material with better conductivity than the standard copper used in the Red and Blue. And the needle: a naked diamond with a fine-line cut, mounted on a bare aluminum needle tube - slimmer, lighter and more responsive than any of its predecessors.

The fine-line cut has an even narrower contact geometry than the elliptical cut of the Blue - it touches the groove at a point that is even closer to the original mastering cutting stylus, meaning it reads high-frequency information that is already out of reach for elliptical needles. At first, this sounds like more analytics - but it's not. The 2M Bronze plays with a lightness and smoothness that tempts even experienced testers to forget about analytical listening and simply enjoy the music. The treble is silky and open, the mids balanced and full-bodied, the bass gnarly and powerful. And the room - it opens up noticeably, voices and instruments are located more precisely, choral passages gain air. A pickup that LP magazine attests to the fact that even sharp "S" sounds are reproduced cleanly and a wide, organized space is created - qualities that were previously reserved exclusively for expensive MC systems.

The 2M Black is the flagship of the series - and a special case in the world of MM cartridges. It plays in a price range where serious MC systems are waiting in the wings, and holds its own as a rare, exceptional talent. The key is the stylus: a naked diamond with a Shibata cut - one of the most sophisticated and precise stylus geometries ever, originally developed for scanning quadraphonic records with their extreme high-frequency components. The Shibata cut has an exceptionally wide but extremely narrow contact line to the groove wall and thus achieves a contact geometry that is closer to the cutting stylus geometry than any other commercially available stylus shape.

This stylus is combined with the most technically sophisticated generator in the series: split pole pins, silver-plated copper wires, a low-resonance housing made of hard plastic - the same material principle as the bronze, but implemented even more consistently. The result is a sound that the trade press describes with attributes such as "powerful", "thrilling" and "SPU-like" - the legendary Ortofon SPU cartridges as a reference. Voices are given volume and passion. Dynamic jumps are fearless. The stage is three-dimensional and generous. The 2M Black is a rare example of an MM cartridge that makes you forget that it is not an MC system with its playfulness and authority.

The 2M series is cleverly designed: All needles - Red, Blue, Bronze and Black - are compatible with each other and can be interchanged. This enables a gradual, risk-free introduction. If you start with the 2M Red, you can upgrade it at any time with the Blue needle - and thus take a big step forward in terms of sound without having to replace the system body. However, if you want to upgrade directly from Red to Bronze or Black, you should also change the system body: Red and Blue share the same generator, Bronze and Black an optimized generator with silver-plated copper wires. The full potential of a bronze or black needle only unfolds with the right body.

All 2M models are designed for light to medium-weight tonearms and fit almost any modern turntable with a ½-inch standard headshell. For owners of Rega turntables, it should be noted that Rega tonearms have a lower height than the standard - a spacer provides the correct VTA setting. Alternatively, Ortofon offers the 2MR series, a variant developed specifically for Rega tonearms with a reduced height of just 14 mm.