"Immediately Engaging, Sounding Powerful and Vivid" Cartridge – On SH-4 Headshell
The Ortofon 2M Black is the flagship MM cartridge from Ortofon. The 2M Black is graced with a Shibata diamond stylus – the same diamond as on the acclaimed MC Jubilee. Its slim, highly polished profile allows an exceedingly wide contact area to the groove walls and ensures notably detailed reproduction throughout the spectrum, including even the most high frequency groove information.
This version of the 2M Black comes pre-mounted on Ortofon's popular SH-4 black headshell – a practical and elegant solution if you're looking for direct and easy mounting and replacement on your S-shaped tonearm. The quality of the SH-4 headshell is sturdy and rigid, yet the design emphasizes a slim and delicate form factor. The strong, lightweight headshell has an ergonomic design with a long finger lift that is easy to pick up.
"Holographic Imagery"
"When set-up, the Ortofon 2M Black was immediately engaging, sounding powerful and vivid," notes Hi-fi News Yearbook, 2011. "It was natural recordings of full orchestra that confirmed that the 2M Black is a stellar moving-magnet cartridge... The 2M Black delivers a holographic imagery worthy of the most sophisticated vinyl replay systems."
The cartridge body used for the 2M Black is manufactured from a newly-developed Lexan DMX Piano Black, a revolutionary material which ensures high rigidity while eliminating unwanted resonances.
The 2M Black uses a special upgraded engine with an increased output of 5 mV, featuring split pole pins with a silver plated copper wire. Split pole pins are an invention that enables moving magnet cartridges to have a flat frequency response, as with a much higher-priced moving coil cartridge. Split pole pins were invented by Ortofon, and were originally presented in the 500 series and Super OM series.
Ortofon's 2M Series
The 2M Series is designed for precise and accurate retrieval of the information in the record groove. The 2M Series is developed in conjunction with the Danish Industrial designer Møller Jensen Design – the same designer who designed the award winning MC Jubilee and Kontrapunkt series. Inspired by the facets of a diamond, whose contours gracefully trace the grooves on a record's surface, the 2M's handsome elegance establishes a great combination of form and functionality.
The name 2M was selected from among several ideas. Ortofon wanted a modern name that would be easy to pronounce and remember, and therefore an alphanumerical name was chosen. 2M means MM, which is the abbreviation for moving magnet.
Of course the 2M isn't just another pretty face. It has been engineered to the highest standards and is congruent with Ortofon's unrelenting commitment to providing the most precise and accurate reproduction possible without coloration.
Easy Mounting
Ortofon has optimized the design for ease of mounting the cartridge, and the weight and size to fit the most common turntables on the market today. The 2M Series provides excellent compatibility when used in an assortment of playback systems and with a wide variety of phono preamps.
