Ortofon 2M Bronze

This same subject came up in another post about the 2M black cartridge. According to the Ortofon site, the stylus for the bronze and black are interchangeable and the stylus for the blue can be swapped for the silver. Apparently the bronze and black are identical construction other than the stylus; the black stylus is a shibata tip, the bronze is not. The bronze cartridge sells for around 450; the black around 750. The black stylus only sells for around 570 so the big difference is the stylus tip, shibata being  more expensive to producce.

Yes... it is possible.

The internal generator is nearly identical.

Not according to Ortofon site. They say the bronze and black are ok to switch but none of the lower end models. I get contrary response on the other thread about this.....guess that guy thinks he knows more than the manufacturer of the device. This is a dangerous way to live.

Yes you can change to the Bronze stylus but it may not sound right or a well as you expect.

You mean, in other words don't do it?

It would be around $440.00 to purchase the entire new Bronze cartridge. Just would like to save a little cash if possible. Thanks, Boogerhead.

If you want to save, It would be better to purchase an entirely different cartridge for $280 with Nude LineContact stylus designed by Mitachi Corporation in Japan and made for Astatic in the 70’s. The model called Astatic MF-100 and you can search on audiogon, it was very popular model when many of us searched for the best ever MM. The cartridge is actually Moving Flux with square shank nude LineContact type diamond. For $280 it is a sleal !! Directly from Japan in New Old Stock condition, if you’re not happy you can return it under paypal buyer’s protection with no loss for you, but the seller is legitimate (i've bought carts from his in the past), he has a bunch of them without boxes, they are new (never used). Just seach ebay for Astatic MF-100

Ok thanks for this information. 

The 2m Bronze and Black use a different magnet structure than the Red and Blue. If the Silver is similar to the Red and Blue, then the Bronze stylus will not be a premium match to your Silver. The 2m Red is a bonded elliptical diamond stylus, the Blue is a nude elliptical. Is your Silver one of these stylus? If so it's probably a rebadged Red or Blue.

@mjcmt 

Where did you get that information ? What do you mean by different magnet? 

Please read this thread on Steve Hoffman forum and read feedbacks from people who swap the styli on any 2M series which you think are incompatible (that's not true). 

look at the specs 
bronze and black share same specs, red and blue share different spes
body is the same but your results will not be optimal

I gave you a link, it has nothing to do with the magnets, it's about cartridge inductance and the difference is so little that you will hardly notice. The difference is cartridge inductance (700mH for Blue and 630mH for Bronze), 1db higher channel separation for Bronze and 0.5mV higher output for Blue. The ortofon only recommend to use them like that, but it's not mandatory and there are people who use Blue on Black for example. 

There are differences and Ortofon chose a different motor so they have their reasons. May be silver wire vs. copper, who knows? But it was important enough that I'd go with Ortofon's recommendation.

That’s close to right...

red: copper generator / elliptical bonded
silver: silver generator / elliptical bonded
blue: copper generator / elliptical nude
bronce: silver generator / fine line nude
black: silver generator / shibata nude

”silver generator” means silver-coated copper wire.

Thats all!

Soundwise we made some comparisons and found out
that the diamond tip makes a difference... the generator
close to nothing.

There might be a selectional process at Ortofon but in
some cases the cheaper cartridge outperformed more
expensive ones.

Price/performance wise the silver is maybe the worst.