Best Ortofon SPUs to sample

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
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Canberra Australia
No but I have used the Miyajima Premium Mono BE. It also has no vertical compliance like the Zero. It is a fine sounding cart on microgroove records but I had some distortion issues with it on some modern mono reissues which evidently have some vertical artifacts as the result of mastering or pressing. That's why I switched to the SPU Mono GM MkII which is IMHO an equally fine sounding cart for playing early monos. An added benefit is no SUT required and can be run into standard 47K MM input.

this is great feedback, looking for killer mono cart at reasonable price....
 

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
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San Diego area
this is great feedback, looking for killer mono cart at reasonable price....
The other mono cart I recommend highly is the Ortofon Cadenza Mono. It is an excellent all round mono cart, does a superb job on modern monos and very good on early ones, though with not quite the body projected by the SPU Mono GM MkII on those.
 

Stacore

Industry Expert
Feb 23, 2017
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Gdańsk, Poland
stacore.pl
The SPU Meister Silver GM MKll is an all time favorite...give them a try.

Cheers!
ALF
Dealer Disclosure

A-ha! This is something I'm very much interested in after my TSD15sph died. 3012R arm
Any more opinions? Esp. against the Classic GM II E?

Thanks,
 

Stacore

Industry Expert
Feb 23, 2017
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Gdańsk, Poland
stacore.pl
https://www.ortofon.com/spu-a95-p-366

Quote from Art Dudley


Btw I own the SPU a95, bought new, used for a compare, don't use it since don't have a tablet, and can let go for 1300 Euro, same price I bought from an Italian dealer introduced by Gian. I will move the money to a restored TD 124

I might be interested. How many hours on it?

Thanks,
 

BruceD

VIP/Donor
Dec 13, 2013
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I've owned few of the long bodied SPUs--all fine Cartridges--this however remains top of the heap for me.

BruceD

_MG_8839.jpg
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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I might be interested. How many hours on it?

Thanks,

Hi I sent a brand new one to an audiophile to burn in and then heard it on his system (with the PTP Lenco on my website). Then I took it to Silvercore where I used it in place of his SPU a85 for the listening session.

So roughly less than 10 hours across two listening sessions, plus the approx. 40 - 50 hours of burn in the first audiophile did. As I do not have a TT it has been sitting in the box since
 

gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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I confirm that Fonartix, shop in Italy,my friend,sold to Ked the spu 95 new at 1.300 euro because shop is closing
 

Tango

VIP/Donor
Mar 12, 2017
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Bangkok
I confirm that Fonartix, shop in Italy,my friend,sold to Ked the spu 95 new at 1.300 euro because shop is closing

Ked is thinking of selling at 1,800 euro Gian..hahahah
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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1300 - post 14.

Half price, I think, of the retail. Also by far the lowest on hifi shark, if you also consider sold prices
 

ALF

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2012
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Southwest
I've owned few of the long bodied SPUs--all fine Cartridges--this however remains top of the heap for me.

BruceD

View attachment 37058

Ah, the Shindo-san version...it is a beast BD; if you get the chance, you should try it with the Ortofon ST-80SE, Kondo SFz or A23 Hommage SUTs. From my experience, all of these SUTs are super performers with the SPUs.

Cheers!
ALF
Ortofon Dealer Disclosure
 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
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The best price you can buy in Italy now is around 1900 euro because are few and limited so shop don't do big discount
 

shakti

Well-Known Member
May 9, 2015
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Cologne, Germany
Since 3 weeks I added the Ortofon SPU Gold as NOS Vintage SPU to my SPU collection.
The first hours were very dull and soft, but after 20hours the SPU gold opened a lot.
Currently I like, what I hear and I can understand, why the market price for a SPU gold is higher, that for the later SPU Gold Reference.

It is always difficult to judge, what ist "the best" SPU. Listening to A90 and A95 will bring the SPU performance a little bit into the direction of standard modern cartridges, same with the century and the shibata needle.

A classical SPU has a "sound" which makes it perfect for old classic or jazz recordings.
The old SPU gold has exactly the DNA of a SPU, but plays on a higher level. (silver coils, silver leads)

(Tonearm used: Ikeda 407)
 
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Sergio Kwitko

Member
Nov 8, 2018
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Porto Alegre, Brazil
I love the sound of SPU Meister Silver MKII, but this cartridge with the Ikeda IT-407 arm sounds surprisingly worst than with a Jelco TK 950L arm! Using the same Synergistic Research cable (that sounds better than the original Ikeda and Jelco cables). Any thoughts?
 

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
437
168
350
San Diego area
I love the sound of SPU Meister Silver MKII, but this cartridge with the Ikeda IT-407 arm sounds surprisingly worst than with a Jelco TK 950L arm! Using the same Synergistic Research cable (that sounds better than the original Ikeda and Jelco cables). Any thoughts?

The Ikeda arm has bizarre geometry that requires twisting the head shell of a non-SPU cartridge to obtain Baerwald, Lofgren or other preferred geometry. With an SPU this is obviously impossible so the only parameter that you can adjust is pivot to spindle distance. But that will still leave you with less than desirable result and moderately high levels of tracking error. The Jelco TK-950L is in their latest series of knife edge bearing tonearms with designed-in Baerwald geometry, so it is a natural partner for any SPU cartridge.
 

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