Bulk Cartridges?

[njb182]

I was doing some more research on the Ortofon cartridge I am looking at and I ran into a question. In the Ortofon OMB 5 E, the B stands for bulk, as noted on that page. Ortofon also sells an OM 5 E without the B. What's the difference between a bulk cartridge and a non-bulk cartridge?

 

[brucered]

i would assume BULK means just that, BULK. they are probably sold in a tray of 20 or something and then just sold like that, not individually boxed.

actually i just thread on VinylEngine on the same topic.

as well, read this for a more accurate description of it:
The company's OM range of low cost MM cartridges has a reputation similar to those of Sennheiser Headphones in that there is simply not a bad cartridge in the line-up, while there are cartridges from other makers that often are as good or better in any sense, you simply cannot go wrong with a OM cart at any given price point. The range starts with the budget OM 3E which is a very cheap pickup only really sold in the most cost concious of countries such as the UK but has a elliptical stylus probably the cheapest model on the market with such, but even if you are looking for a budget model we would recommend the OM 5E it's only slightly more expensive and available in a P-mount version as the OMP 5E, the replacement stylus for this unit is somewhat cheaper than the one for the OM 10 series so those of you with a flock of kids may want to have something like this in preference to something more expensive (although you can also use the 5E stylus with the rest of the OM series), note that there are also OEM variants of this design namely the OMB 5E and the P-mount OMT 5E (see below for diff. between OEM and full price variants). Next up is the OMB 10 which is an OEM variant of the OM 10 Super, this is a damn good budget pickup, the difference between the 2 lies not in design but in manufacturing tolerances so that the Super version has the same mechanical specifications as the OMB version but the former has better electrical specs but basically the same sound, the OMB also is shipped in a plain box without without any accessories etc. You can also get the OM 10 Super packaged with both a LP and a 78 rpm stylus as the OM 10/78 Super, with just a 78 rmp stylus as OM 78 Super, with a stylus for the playback of mono LP's as OM D25M and in a P-mount/T4P version as the OMP 10 Super and an OEM version of that model called OMT 10. Next up in the line is the OM 20 Super that is about twice the price of the 10 and has a naked elliptical stylus (available in a P-mount as TM 20U) and the OM 30 Super (P-mount as OMP 30) which is about twice that again, these are mid range carts that compete with lower priced MC's, noticeable improvements over the budget MM's lie in their bass response and better tracking due to the improved stylus profiles.

 

[njb182]

So if I get the bulk one, installation/record play wont be affected, right?

 

[cannext]

Omb as in bulk,sold to manufacturers of turntables to mount as a "starter" cartridge.Ortofon wanted to make shure one knew the difference between a shopbought cart and one that came with a turntable.
Other than that there is no difference as far as I know.
Regards F.

 

[lini]

To comment the large quote above, I'm not aware of any difference between the OMB10 and the OM10 Super in terms of higher tolerances. However, the "Super" models are more recent than the older OM(B)s and OMPs and have a slightly modified generator inside (with higher inductance and dc resistance). So the OMBs are just the same as regular OMs, just without the fancy end user packaging - and both use the same needle designs as the Super versions, but don't quite sound the same due to the different generator versions. The same different generator versions can be found in the 3xx P-Mount series compared to the newer 5x0II/VinylMaster models for halfinch mount, btw...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[ETI_5000]

As already noted by some of the other people who've answered, the OMB cartridges are identical to the OM cartridges in all but the lack of packaging. That is, the OMB's are supplied without boxes or instructions, usually to turntable manufacturers (eg Project, Thorens) in bulk (B for bulk) to include with their turntables. The performance is identical to the regular OM's, although they are slightly cheaper due to the lack of packaging and instructions.

-Don