Ortofon MC A Mono

The Ortofon Exclusives series of our highest-performing Moving Coil cartridges has now been expanded to include the brand new MC A MONO cartridge

The MC A Mono is a TRUE MONO cartridge for play-back of MONO recordings.

If you play a MONO record with a stereo cartridge you will not achieve the same signal in the two channels due to imperfections such as crosstalk, noise, phase errors, tracking error, antiskating and distortion. This difference between the channels will result in an unstable and partially fuzzy image. A mono switch, to some extent, can improve this.

Playing MONO record with a TRUE MONO cartridge will have none of the aforementioned problems, as this cartridge only produces one signal, which afterwards is directed to both channels in the system. This will provide a much more forceful and stable image with a fuller sound.

Another significant advantage of using a TRUE MONO cartridge to play MONO records is the absence of response to vertical movement. This means that a TRUE MONO cartridge is essentially impervious to the pinching effect which comes into action when the stylus is pushed vertically upward in very narrow grooves. In addition, the response to dust, dirt and wear will be reduced substantially as the vertical component will not be heard. The final result will be a much more clean and noiseless reproduction of the MONO record. These effects simply cannot be achieved merely by the use of a mono switch.

High-end materials

The housing of the cartridge is made in Titanium with the Selective Laser Melting manufacturing technique (SLM). The SLM technique was pioneered by Ortofon for manufacturing of the MC A90 and the SPU A90 cartridges, and was refined in subsequent Exclusive Series models.

The SLM process welds fine particles of Titanium together, layer-by-layer, to construct a single piece body devoid of extraneous material. This technique allows for precise control of the density of the body material, allowing for extremely high internal damping. The final result provides freedom over vibrations within the cartridge body material.

The use of Titanium has provided a further improvement to the internal damping capabilities as well as to the overall rigidity of the structure.

Technical data

• Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5cm/sec. - 0.2 mV
• Frequency response - 20 Hz-20 kHz +2 dB/- 1 dB
• Tracking ability at 315Hz at recommended tracking force - 90 µm
• Compliance, dynamic, lateral - 13 µm/mN
• Stylus type - Special polished Nude Ortofon Replicant 100 on Boron Cantilever
• Stylus tip radius - r/R 5/100 µm
• Tracking force range - 2.0-2.5 g (20-25 mN)
• Tracking force, recommended - 2.3 g (23 mN)
• Tracking angle - 23°
• Internal impedance, DC resistance - 7 Ohm
• Recommended load impedance - > 10 Ohm
• Coil wire material - Aucurum
• Cartridge body material - SLM Titanium
• Cartridge colour - Silver
• Cartridge weight - 6 gram