The Quintet replaces the Rondo range, which was a force to be reckoned with in it's own right .. but the Quintet has certainly moved things forward a couple of notches. It's body is made from a special ABS material (Acrylonitrile/Butadiene/Styrene) which is extremely light and durable and perfect for the purpose. Neodymium magnets are used due to their small size to power ratio which allows excellent output.
Recent Ortofons ... (2M and Rondo I'm looking at you!) have been tricky to fit to some headshells, due mainly to large size and curved edges which are tricky to align. The Quintet is much easier as it is slab sided, but still large and unusually deep.
Listening was done on a Linn Sondek with Ittok arm as this is a common home for mid range Ortofons. We also briefly tried it in a Rega RP6 .. and more of this later
In the Ittok the Bronze is easy to align (as described earlier) but did require a little manipulation of the cartridge tags to allow it to sit far enough back in the headshell. Once in we set the tracking force to the recommended 2.3g for starters and played a few albums. First impression were very good, fairly quiet surface noise on even some quite old vinyl, Ortofon have used this 'Nude Fine Line' tip before and it always impresses with it's tracking ability.
Ortofons of old could be a little brittle at the top end, some customers of ours seem to still remember this and keep clear of them for that reason ...but the range hasn't had a bright sounding model for a lot of years, so it's a shame that they can get overlooked.
The Bronze has a much more expansive sound than the lesser models in the range, treble is sweeter and bass much more extended. Generally the Bronze performs above the level you would expect at this price, not actually too far behind a Lyra Delos which was next up for evaluation ... The Bronze was equally as detailed and had similar scale .. but lost out to the Lyra on pure musicality, the Bronze gives you everything on the record .. but not quite the 'soul' ... but at half of the price this is excellent value!
VTA doesn't seem to be too much of an issue .. unlike some designs.. but due to it's tall body it does only just fit a Rega arm without bottoming out on the record .. so you may prefer to add some spacers to compensate for this.
We've always been big fans of Ortofon and it seems that the Quintet Bronze is another absolute gem
To see the range - click here
or ring us on 01270 580734
Technical Data:
| Output Voltage (at 1kHz, 5cm/sec): | 0.3mV |
| Channel Balance at 1kHz: | <1.2dB |
| Channel Separation at 1kHz: | >23dB |
| Channel Separation at 15kHz: | >15dB |
| Frequency Range (at -3dB): | 20 Hz - 25 kHz |
| Frequency Response 20Hz - 20kHz: | ± 1.5dB |
| Tracking Ability at 315Hz: | 80μm |
| Compliance, Dynamic, Lateral: | 15μm / mN |
| Stylus Type: | Nude Fine Line |
| Stylus Tip Radius r / R: | 8 / 40μm |
| Tracking Force Range: | 2.1 - 2.5g (21 - 25mN) |
| Recommended Tracking Force: | 2.3g (23mN) |
| Tracking Angle: | 20º |
| Internal Impedance / DC Resistance: | 5Ω |
| Recommended Load Impedance: | >20Ω |
| Cartridge Body Material: | ABS/Alu. |
| Cartridge Colour: | Bronze |
| Cartridge Weight: | 9g |
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