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Ortofon 2M blue playback problem

honestabe316

honestabe316

Oh Chief! - Jane Hathaway
I have a question that maybe someone can answer. A friend of mine bought an ortofon 2m blue cartridge and he also has an Ortofon 2M red cartridge. He has a rega rp1 tt. I was at his house last night and he was playing records on the Rega using the Ortofon blue cart and stylus. When he put on a record, there was an obvious dropping volume every few spins it was really strange. It sounded like a voltage issue to me.
When he played it with the Ortofon 2m red, it played perfectly. To do a bit of experimentation, he put the red stylus on the blue cart and the record played fine. So presumably, the 2m blue stylus seems to be the issue....as I said both red and blue carts play great when using the red stylus but the funky volume issue happens when using the blue stylus.
My friend actually brought the 2m blue cart and stylus back to the dealer and the dealer claimed he could not hear the issue but did give him a new blue stylus. When he got home and tested it....and nothing had changed.....
I heard the issue as clear as day....the dealer had to be deaf...it is that obvious......
My friend is using a McIntosh amp, Parasound p5, and the Sega rp-1. The Parasound is a test model that he is trying out for a couple of weeks.
Does anyone have any guesses about this?
Again; as the records are playing, it sounds like someone is intermittently messing with the volume by turning it down a bit the back to where it was....

Does anyone have any ideas on what could be happening?
 
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A furball and lint on a stylus can do this. Severe cart misalignment or a loose cart in headshell can too.
 
tnsilver said:
A furball and lint on a stylus can do this. Severe cart misalignment or a loose cart in headshell can too.
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I will pass that on.....it's just odd that when he puts the Ortofon 2m red "stylus" on the 2m blue cartridge the problem goes away...it's only she the stylus for the blue is used on the blue...it sounds like something wrong with the blue's stylus doesn't It?
 
There's a very good chance there's some crud on the stylus that can't readily be seen. Give it a thorough, gentle cleaning and with some luck the problem will clear up.
 
I have a similar problem, I purchased a 2m red and had no problem with it, but since upgrading to a 2m blue I have been massively disappointed with it, it's much quieter and it doesn't sound very special at all, I have tried it on other turntables and with other amps and, to be honest, its crap, I have cleaned it and reset it but without change. I have some very cheap cartridges that sound much better.
 
The 2M carts need a relatively long break-in period. The Red took about 25 hours. Both of my Blue styli took about 40 hours before the sound stabilized. After that, no problems whatsoever. Both of my Bronze styli were closer to 50 hours.

Just play the Blue. You'll know when it's ready for prime-time!
 
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"Ortofon does not recommend the use of solvents of any kind for cleaning of either the record surface or stylus."

Be carefull whith what you clean it with.
 
I honestly believe that most people who don't like the 2M carts simply didn't give them time for the suspension to bed-in properly. Until then, the Blue, and especially the Bronze, are very lightweight sounding. Bass will come and go, treble will be fine one day, and brittle as glass the next, or practically not there. But, in my opinion, the end result is enough better than the Red as to be a completely different cartridge.
 
justjed2 said:
I honestly believe that most people who don't like the 2M carts simply didn't give them time for the suspension to bed-in properly. Until then, the Blue, and especially the Bronze, are very lightweight sounding. Bass will come and go, treble will be fine one day, and brittle as glass the next, or practically not there. But, in my opinion, the end result is enough better than the Red as to be a completely different cartridge.
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I had a 2M red cart that came with one of my TT's. I thought I'd gotten some poor pressings, as some of my records sounded like a$$. Upgraded to a 2m Blue stylus and it was a night and day difference, but the 2m Blue does take some playing to break in.
 
I have had my 2m blue for some time now and it's past its wear-in period so I know that's not the problem, it's quieter than any other of my cartridges and needs more volume to extract the same sound, and its muted in its tonal output, it's not at all what I was expecting from something in its price range.
 
honestabe316 said:
I have a question that maybe someone can answer. A friend of mine bought an ortofon 2m blue cartridge and he also has an Ortofon 2M red cartridge. He has a rega rp1 tt. I was at his house last night and he was playing records on the Rega using the Ortofon blue cart and stylus. When he put on a record, there was an obvious dropping volume every few spins it was really strange. It sounded like a voltage issue to me.

Does anyone have any ideas on what could be happening?
Click to expand...
Does he have the Blue on a different headshell than the Red? Check the connections to the back on the cartridge and the connection pins onto the tonearm. The wiring for cold solder points.
 
losthorizon said:
It's just one of many that I have collected over the years. I don't like giving up on it, but if a new stylus doesn't fix the problem, it will have to go.
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I had an Ortofon 2M Blue on a Pro-ject turntable many moons ago. It lasted one week. It was just a little too tilted to the mid-high frequencies. Listener fatigue thing, after a few records (for me and my system).

I went to a high-output Hana EH cartridge. Much, much better. But that dang Pro-ject had this background noise I could never get rid of. It sounded like a steady, low-level mechanical noise.

I gave the turntable and cartridge to a friend at work. A year later, he turned it in for a direct-drive turntable.
 
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