The cartridge for the red and blue stylus is the same. The cartridge for the orange and black is the same but different and an upgrade to the red/blue cartridge. An orange and black stylus will fit into the blue cartridge but you will not get the best performance from that cartridge. I had a Music Hall 2.2 and installed the orange and it was great...still have it for my Prime. I suggest you get the orange now it will be a noticeable improvement and then later you can just replace the stylus to the black either for your 2.2 or a new turntable that you will most likely get in the future.
Want to upgrade my cartridge from 2m blue to black
My first post here on the forums and I needed an honest opinion. I have a cheap music hall mmf 2.2 turntable with 2m blue installed. I like the sound but was wondering if I can get better details from upgrading to a black cartridge on my basic turntable. Would it be worth it? I’m definitely an analog lover but am budget constrained. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
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No, the Ortofon black stylus cannot be used with the blue cartridge body. This according to the Ortofon website. They list two swaps for the blue cartridge stylus; one is the 2M silver. I can't recall the other one but it wasn't the black. The site plainly states on the detail page for bronze and black cartridges that those styli are swappable. The detail page for the blue cartridge does not show the black being able to fit the blue body. If you want to take a chance on ruining a nearly six hundred dollar stylus, go for it. |
Common sense is that a good table with an entry level cartridge will sound better than an entry level table with a good cartridge. You could get a pretty nice second hand turntable for the $755 the 2m black would cost and put the blue on it or more than likely find a turntable with a similar quality cartridge already on it. I did a lot of upgrades to My Music Hall 2.2. The acrylic platter, a speed box, a nagaoka MP 500 cartridge. At the end of the day my music hall 5.1 with a $50 AT95 cartridge sounded better. Not that the 2.2 is a bad turntable, it's not. I still have mine and enjoy it in another system. My read of the original poster was that they have a limited budget and want to get the best sound quality. The money they are considering spending on a cartridge upgrade would be better spent on a decent turntable. They could spend less and have better sound quality by replacing the turntable instead of the cartridge. A note of caution is that the wires on the tonearm on the 2.2 are very flimsy and break easily. |
No, the Ortofon black stylus cannot be used with the blue cartridge body. This according to the Ortofon website. I think you have no idea what you’re talking about, no matter what stated on the Ortofon website, here is a comparison chart of all models in 2M line. The difference is cartridge inductance (700mH for Blue and 630mH for Black), 1db higher channel separation for Black and 0.5mV higher output for Blue. Another user also commented about it: The Black stylus can be swapped into any of the 2M bodies the difference is that the "better" ones gets selected for the Bronze and Black - the runts for the Red and Blue. The electrical specs are listed as 1.2kOhm for the Bronze and Black - 1.3kOhms for the Red and Blue. @pbnaudio @big_greg
This is BS and i already explained how big is the improvement of the Stanton 881s mkII instead of the Ortofon 2M Red on the same cheap turntable called Pro-Ject Carbon. I’ve heard it myself, did you ever tried just to swap a cartridge ? Or you’re always buying a new turntable for each cartridge ? Entry level cartridge can not sound better on more expensive turntables, cartridge pick up the signal from the record, not from the turntable. A cartridge rides in the record groove. Turntable just spin the record. If a person has just $700 for upgrade why do you advice a new turntable for the same shitty cartridge ? We can talk about new turntable with much better tonearm if the budget is $2000, but not a $700 (the stylus replacement is cheaper than $700 anyway). For a better sound a person can upgrade cartridge, turntable, tonearm, phono stage, wires, speakers and to make room treatment ... but this is not the case of this topic ! We can start from room treatment for anyone, but in this topic the OP just looking for a new cartridge or stylus and what you’re posting here is nonsense. Of course a new stylus with better profile will be an improvement for any good working turntable. And Shibata stylus is an improvement over Elliptical stylus. All he need to do is to buy a STYLUS from the top model for his cartridge body. This is the quickest and most cost effective solution for his system at the moment. |
bsmg As I describe above, any of the 2M styli is mountable on the two "different" body types - which physically are the same. The "differences" are electrical, the "better" ones go to the Bronze/Black series the "lesser" ones to the Red/Blue Take a look https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/4923#&gid=1&pid=16 https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/4923#&gid=1&pid=17 The "Difference" between the Red/Blue - Bronze/Black is the 2M logo red vs Gold SilkScreen, and it sounds fantastic :-) One Caveat when working on the 2M series, be very careful pulling the leads of the pins, a slight design flaw with them is that they are smooth so if the clips are too tight - the pins can pull out of the body destroying the cartridge. Good Listening Peter |
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