Ortofon
The oldest brand we stock and the name most vinyl listeners already trust. Cartridges spanning a first serious upgrade through to genuine high end, still made in Denmark.
About Ortofon
Quick Access
A century of Ortofon, from film sound to cartridges
Ortofon started in 1918 as Fonofilm Industri, working on sound for cinema. The move into record playback came later, and in 1948 the company produced the first commercially available moving coil cartridge. The MC principle is now used by most high-end cartridge makers, and it originated here.
That continuity is the point. Very few audio companies have been making the same category of product, in the same country, for more than a hundred years. It shows in how the range is laid out: methodically, with each step doing one identifiable thing, and with replacement styli and parts supported far longer than the industry norm.
Manufacturing is still in Nakskov. Cartridge assembly is close work, done by hand under magnification, and Ortofon train their own assemblers rather than buying finished generators in. Alongside that hand work sits Selective Laser Melting, a process Ortofon pioneered for cartridge bodies, welding fine particles of titanium or steel layer by layer into a single piece with no joints and precisely controlled density. The stylus profiles are their own too, including the Replicant 100, a line contact diamond cut to approximate the shape of the lathe stylus that cut the record in the first place.
Ortofon also make headshells, headshell leads, step-up transformers, alignment tools and cleaning products, which between them cover most of what sits around a cartridge.
Shop by Range
Ortofon split into moving magnet and moving coil before anything else, and that decision comes before any question of level. 2M is the moving magnet range, works with any phono stage, and the stylus can be changed by the owner. Quintet, Cadenza, MC and SPU are moving coil, need a phono stage that supports them, and are retipped by Ortofon.
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£729.17Ex. VATExperience audio purity with the MC X40, the flagship of the MC X Series. Featuring a nude Shibata diamond stylus and boron cantilever, it delivers superb clarity, fast response, and remarkable detail. Perfect for discerning vinyl enthusiasts. -
£790.83Ex. VATExperience warm analog sound with the Ortofon SPU GTX S moving coil cartridge. Marrying vintage charm with cutting-edge innovation, and enhanced audio fidelity bringing the warmth and character of vinyl records to life. Featuring a spherical diamond stylus, this ensures a smooth, balanced sound, perfect for rediscovering the rich textures of your favorite track
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£832.50Ex. VATThe SPU GTX E has the musicality and tonal warmth that have made the SPU series a great choice for audiophiles while embracing cutting-edge advancements for superior performance. Its elliptical stylus design, featuring a narrower front radius and broader side radius, ensures a larger contact area with record grooves. This translates to enhanced tracking ability and exceptional sound detail. Engineered for pristine audio clarity, the SPU GTX E features a built-in MC step-up transformer, providing high-output, low-noise performance without requiring extra amplification.
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£999.17Ex. VATOrtofon's MC Cadenza Red is using a nude fine line stylus with a cylindrical aluminium cantilever and coils made from pure silver wire. An improved winding process on the armature allows a better channel balance. The sound picture of Cadenza Red is more relaxed, homogeneous and moderately dynamic in the perspective compared to the Cadenza Blue and have great space and depth in the stereo image.
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£999.17Ex. VATOrtofon's MC Cadenza Mono is made with a nude fine line stylus and a cylindrical aluminium cantilever. For easy use the pins are connected so you get the same signal from both pairs of connecting pins. Sharing internal build with the Cadenza Red and with optimized adjustments for mono playback the sound is relaxed, homogeneous and moderate. Find your old records as well as new micro groove mono records and experience the Cadenza Mono.
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£999.17Ex. VATOne of the standout features of the ST-70 is its use of high-quality Lundahl™ transformers, surrounded by specialised mu-metal shielding. This combination ensures that every detail in a complex array of notes is reproduced with absolute purity, free from internal and external sources of interference. The result is an incredibly quiet and revealing transformer that will impress even the most critical listeners.
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£1,082.50Ex. VATThe Ortofon MC X50 is a moving coil cartridge featuring a nude Micro Ridge diamond stylus on a boron cantilever, high-purity silver quad coils, a MIM-moulded honeycomb stainless-steel body, and a newly formulated rubber suspension engineered specifically for the model. -
£1,374.17Ex. VATOrtofon's MC Cadenza Blue is using a Nude FG 70 stylus with a very thin ruby cantilever. The improved winding process on the armature ensures better channel balance. The soundstage of Cadenza Blue is wide open and grandiose straight out of the box. Micro dynamic and ambience will be evident when listening to complex compositions. It reaches a very high degree of definition in the perspective, which is very present. It is true to the music with a tremendous clarity.
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SALE£1,665.83 £1,832.50Ex. VAT ✓ Save £166.67Ortofon's MC Cadenza Bronze is using a Replicant 100 stylus and a conical aluminium cantilever. The coil wire is the famous Ortofon Aucurum wire, which is a gold plated 6NX copper wire. A Field Stabilizing Element, FSE, is used for optimal linearity especially during complex crescendo passages. Cadenza Bronze is a true high-end reference cartridge, conveying music with supreme precision, impact and dynamics. Its stereo imaging capabilities illuminate the farthest corners of the soundstage in all three dimensions.
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SALE£2,040.83 £2,290.83Ex. VAT ✓ Save £250.00Ortofon's MC Cadenza Black is using a Nude Shibata stylus with a boron cantilever. The effective mass of the stylus/cantilever system is extremely low due to the use of a very thin boron rod. This material is extremely stiff and even more lightweight than aluminium. It also uses the WRD (Wide Range Damping-system), controlling the high and low frequency damping separately. Cadenza Black is optimized for an amazing tonal neutrality, dynamics and purity of sound. It is high performing on areas like detail, consistency and sound staging.
