New Ortofon "Concorde Music" Cartridges

[J.M. Noble]

Looks like Ortofon announced a new "Concorde Music" series of cartridges last week. It parallels the 2M series with Red, Blue, Bronze, Black, and Black LVB models. Prices on Ortofon's website are the same as the bare 2M cartridges, which of course works out to be less than a 2M + headshell combo.

Info here:

Ortofon Concorde Music | Premium Moving Magnet cartridges

Concorde Music stands as an icon of design and musical dedication, inviting everyone to elevate their journey with the level of accuracy in sound which has become characteristic for every Ortofon cartridge.

ortofon.com

I don't see any information about replacement styli.

 

[Anton D]

Looks like Ortofon announced a new "Concorde Music" series of cartridges last week. It parallels the 2M series with Red, Blue, Bronze, Black, and Black LVB models. Prices on Ortofon's website are the same as the bare 2M cartridges, which of course works out to be less than a 2M + headshell combo.

Info here:

Ortofon Concorde Music | Premium Moving Magnet cartridges

Concorde Music stands as an icon of design and musical dedication, inviting everyone to elevate their journey with the level of accuracy in sound which has become characteristic for every Ortofon cartridge.

ortofon.com

I don't see any information about replacement styli.

They have replacement styli, but some are model dependent, so even though the line looks the same, body-wise, only certain ones are interchangeable.

 

[J.M. Noble]

They have replacement styli, but some are model dependent, so even though the line looks the same, body-wise, only certain ones are interchangeable.

Ortofon does not list replacement styli on their website for the "Concorde Music" series, or I was unable to find them.

Styli

Ortofon is a micro-mechanical powerhouse, which develops, manufactures and markets the world acclaimed Ortofon phono cartridges.

ortofon.com

 

[mhardy6647]

I have one of the old Concordes around here. Maybe two.
My son had a brief interest in scratching or whatever they call it when he was a lad.

 

[Bland_username42069]

Do these track well? I have a decent sized collection of 7s from the Sahel - most have a minor to significant warp from heat and poor pressing quality.

I always assumed as the weapon of choice for DJs / turntabilists then these would have better than normal tracking

 

[J.M. Noble]

Do these track well? I have a decent sized collection of 7s from the Sahel - most have a minor to significant warp from heat and poor pressing quality.

I always assumed as the weapon of choice for DJs / turntabilists then these would have better than normal tracking

They are a brand new series, so I doubt many people have experience with them.

It looks like the styli are the same as the 2M series, and so is the recommended tracking force (e.g. 1.8g for the Blue) , but I have no idea about the performance. I would expect it to be about the same as the 2Ms, but who knows?

These are not DJ cartridges, and I wouldn't expect them to track like one.

 

[Bland_username42069]

They are a brand new series, so I doubt many people have experience with them.

It looks like the styli are the same as the 2M series, and so is the recommended tracking force (e.g. 1.8g for the Blue) , but I have no idea about the performance. I would expect it to be about the same as the 2Ms, but who knows?

These are not DJ cartridges, and I wouldn't expect them to track like one.

Yes after i said that I looked at the specs compared to the 2m series (probably should have done that first but i was overexcitable..). So they have higher output at 6mv but frequency response is all over the place compared to 2m +3/-1 vs +2/0. Same tracking ability as 2m.

Dj concordes have better tracking.

 

[formdissolve]

Yes after i said that I looked at the specs compared to the 2m series (probably should have done that first but i was overexcitable..). So they have higher output at 6mv but frequency response is all over the place compared to 2m +3/-1 vs +2/0. Same tracking ability as 2m.

Dj concordes have better tracking.

I had a Club Concorde CC pair and they ran super hot at 8mV with 3g tracking.. worked well for DJ stuff but they overloaded anything else I ran them through.

This new non-DJ one looks interesting though

 

[J.M. Noble]

A direct comparison is interesting, they aren't exactly the same. Here's the respective Blue cartridges:

(Edit: a quick look at the Bronzes shows 6mV (vs. 5mV), 17dB channel separation @ 15kHz (vs. 15dB), and recommended 1.8g tracking force (vs. 1.5g) for the Concorde (vs. 2M): so the new one is hotter, a little wider on the top end, and steps a little heavier.)

 

[mglobe]

I hope someone buys one of these and runs the cartridge measurement script on it.

 

[BurntFinger]

Fixed overhang? Or is there an adjustment possible?
I couldn't find anything on the Ortofon site.

 

[J.M. Noble]

I hope someone buys one of these and runs the cartridge measurement script on it.

I might do that with a Bronze, actually. I think I can source one from the UK for about US$300 shipped, which is a much better deal than a 2M. It should be a great match for my Technics SL-1500C.

 

[J.M. Noble]

Fixed overhang? Or is there an adjustment possible?
I couldn't find anything on the Ortofon site.

Concordes are made for bayonet tonearms like Technics and many other clones. The dimensions are all known & fixed, so the only variables should be tracking force and anti-skate.

 

[BurntFinger]

The Technics are 52mm overhang but not all bayonet mount arms are.

My Pioneer is 54mm.

 

[Balle Clorin]

50+ overgang makes no sense, no tonearms are aligned are with 50+ overhang , you must be talking about the length from the connection to the tone arm and tip of stylus. That distance is specified to 48mm on my Sony

 

[Emulator II]

I was very pleased when I read the announcement. To be honest, I've been wondering for a while why Ortofon doesn't offer its own "HiFi Concorde", since it wasn't originally a DJ system and many people simply use the appropriate Technics players just to listen to music.
Unfortunately, a look at the specs shows that these systems, at 18g, are once again too heavy for many vintage Technics HiFi decks, im my case a SL-Q3. Even on the classic 1200/1210, these new systems can only be used with the auxiliary weight. In the past, Ortofon offered the Concorde systems with a weight of 15g, for example, which would make much more sense on most vintage Technics players.

SL-1200/1210 MKII:

SL-Q3:

 

[BurntFinger]

Pioneer PLX-1000

 

[BurntFinger]

Technics SL-1200

 

[J.M. Noble]

Weird that they would make tonearms for DJ-oriented decks that were incompatible with the hugely popular DJ-oriented Concorde cartridges. I'm pretty involved in the electronic music and DJ scene and I rarely see anyone play vinyl (including Serato control discs etc.) with anything but Concordes.

I was very pleased when I read the announcement. To be honest, I've been wondering for a while why Ortofon doesn't offer its own "HiFi Concorde", since it wasn't originally a DJ system and many people simply use the appropriate Technics players just to listen to music.

The Concorde Elite has been around for a while, right? Retailers like Turntable Lab emphasize that it's an "audiophile listening model" and not really for DJing. It is certainly priced for the role at $400+ It's even porkier at 18.5g, of course, which is no help to you.

 

[Balle Clorin]

View attachment 369607

Pioneer PLX-1000

That is a jig to adjust the overhang, but the overhang is the length the stylus goes past the spindle, the jig is 54mm or so to achieve 15mm overhang at the spindle.
The optimal overhang varies with the arm length and the offset angle of the head shell. My SME asks for 17.8mm overhang.