It very definitely doesn’t look like the original MC-2000.
The MC-2000 had a tapered beryllium pipe cantilever, a ‘special elliptical’ stylus*, 10Hz – 100kHz frequency response, 30dB separation at 1kHz, output voltage of 0.13mV (very low), stylus pressure 1.0 ± 0.15g, weight 5.3g and a 30 ohm impedance.
* Like Denon, ‘special elliptical’ means ‘line contact’ in most cartridge manufacturers’ vocabulary, in this case with R = 40μm and r = 8μm, so it’s the same as Ortofon’s Fine Line stylus in dimensions. Not a particularly thin stylus, but the major radius is quite large, so it’s definitely an extended line contact, rather than an elliptical.
It would probably have been an exceptionally good cartridge.
The MC-100 was a slightly lower model (around half the price, released three years later). It did have a somewhat similar-looking metal body to yours.
The specs and features for the MC-100 were tapered beryllium pipe cantilever, ‘special elliptical’ (line contact) stylus of 8 x 40μm, 10Hz – 60kHz frequency response, 28dB separation at 1kHz, output voltage of 0.2mV, stylus pressure 1.4 ± 0.2g, weight 9.6g, and a 30 ohm impedance. So the MC-100 was still pretty good, if rather weighty due to the metal body.
So it’s still a mystery as to what exactly yours is. I’d say it’s definitely not an MC-2000, but may (possibly) be a re-tipped and re-cantilevered MC-100. Whether that produces a similar-sounding cartridge is anybody’s guess, but I doubt it would.
By the way, you can probably tell if it's got a beryllium cantilever - they are a brown colour.
), but pretty much all of their models were pretty good performers for the corresponding prices. And I really loved my good, old MC505 (which replaced the MC3 and MC5 around 1985, iirc) - should have never sold that...
