{"id":364,"date":"2013-12-19T11:49:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T10:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pvdm.xs4all.nl\/blog\/?p=364"},"modified":"2019-07-01T13:17:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T11:17:14","slug":"installing-new-ortofon-2m-red-cartridge-in-the-technics-sl-1900","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/?p=364","title":{"rendered":"Installing new Ortofon 2m red cartridge in the Technics SL-1900"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I received my new cartridge: the Ortofon 2m red<\/strong>. It came with a brush, some screws and a little screwdriver. All in the package for\u00a0\u20ac84,-<\/p>\n

\"2M<\/a>I couldn’t wait for a day off to try it so I installed it yesterday evening. I have never before installed a cartridge, and I must admit the thought of doing so was a bit daunting.<\/p>\n

I had read a lot about installing and adjusting phono cartridges in the past few weeks so I understood the basics. I had downloaded the Technics protractor from vinylengine.com, <\/a>printed it and checked the scale of the print.\u00a0But now it was time to put the theory into practice.<\/p>\n

\"headshell_old\"

My old-style head shell<\/p><\/div>\n

I soon realized that this new cartridge wouldn’t fit in the headshell I had designated for it. This is an old style Technics head shell with one screw on the top.<\/p>\n

Although only one screw is visible in the picture, it has an additional mounting bracket underneath that should fit the 2 screws necessary to mount normal cartridges. But my Ortofon needs to have the heads of the screws on the topside and that is not supported in this headshell.<\/p>\n

But fortunately I have two headshells, the other one is the newer type which has the normal two screwholes at the top. Using the screws which were provided in the package I was able to quickly attach the cartridge provisionally to the headshell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"new<\/a>

new style headshell<\/p><\/div>\n

So that was fairly easy. Next was the task of adjusting the ‘contraption’ \ud83d\ude00 I took my protractor and put it on the turntable on top of a record.<\/p>\n

I soon learned that when I moved the cartridge all the way to the front of the shell that the needle followed the ‘arc’ on the protractor perfectly. Yes!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20131219_212926\"<\/a>

using the protractor<\/p><\/div>\n

But when I tested the alignment of the cartridge on the two gridline patterns on the protractor, I found that it was not perfect in line. So I adjusted it very slightly to the point that it was in line on both patterns and then secured the screws. Pfew! Job done!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"yes-90125\"<\/a>

Yes – 90125<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then came the testing. I must admit I was a little but afraid, or better anxious. I tried it out with a record from Yes – 90125.<\/p>\n

I put the needle down very very carefully.<\/span><\/p>\n

I put on my headphones.<\/p>\n

But as soon as the first tones from the song (Owner Of A Lonely Heart) were played, I relaxed. It sounded very very good!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"IMG_20131219_212756\"<\/a>

The Ortofon happily playing in my sl-1900<\/p><\/div>\n

There is a lot of definition in the sound. There is also a lot of ‘punch’, which I like. HF tones are also ok. Bass is tight and well defined. Overall, I have never ever heard a record sound so clear. True, in the past I have not had good quality turntables. In fact, they were rubbish. But I never thought a record could sound like this. It is so close to a CD. I’m also very glad that I treated my records carefully in the past<\/em>, I didn’t play them a lot (I immediately recorded them onto tape) so that I now have old, but ‘like new’ records that sound wonderful!<\/p>\n

I continued to listen to albums from ELO, Marillion, Tchaikovsky and 12-inch’s from Chaka Khan, Unique (What I Got IS What You Need). Those were the first records I found for grabs. It was a good experience. I am pleased. In the coming evenings I will listen to some other albums.<\/p>\n

I was surprised how quickly and how easily an inexperienced person like myself could do this task. It took me a little over an hour including the adjustments. I can recommend it to everyone.<\/p>\n

Coming up next: cleaning the records with a LP cleaner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I received my new cartridge: the Ortofon 2m red. It came with a brush, some screws and a little screwdriver. All in the package for\u00a0\u20ac84,- I couldn’t wait for a day off to try it so I installed it yesterday evening. I have never before installed a cartridge, and I must admit the thought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":915,"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reeltoreel.nl\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}