A short history of early Ortofon pickups

[Barry]

Hi Barry

It's not my Photo. I found it on the web ages ago so don't know who to credit to.

This link has more photos of an SCA cartridge. They look familiar, possibly the one that was sold on ebay. Hope it helps add to your history

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/354094/2072797

Thanks Andy.

[MartinT]

Superb article, Barry. I enjoyed reading that.

[Ortofon]

Superb article, Barry. I enjoyed reading that.

Hi,

I'm new in this forum, I'm French and do not speak very well English...
I have a very old Ortofon cartridge since few days and I don't know precisely what is it... maybe you can say more to me! there are two pictures.

Thanks, Florent

[Barry]

Hello Florent,

Thanks for the photos of your cartridge. I'm no expert but I'll try and find out what model Ortofon it is.

I do have to point out that we like new members to go into the Welcome area and introduce themselves first before making any posts. It's nothing too onerous: just tell us a little about yourself, roughly where in France you live, what system you run and what music you enjoy. It makes for a friendlier forum.

Don't worry about your English - it's better than my French! If it would help, you could always post in French and one of us could use the Google translator.

Anyway looking forward to conversing with you soon.

Regards

[Ortofon]

Hello,

I think to have found what is this cartridge :
Ortofon (or ESL) C-99 the first Stereo cartridge by Ortofon since 1959, it seams to use a double mono technology...

Florent

[Ortofon]

http://books.google.fr/books?id=uB8E...lboard&f=false

[Barry]

Bon Soir Florent

I have been researching your ‘unidentified’ cartridge that you now think is an ESL C99.

First of all, when I saw your thumbnail photos I did wonder if your cartridge might have been a sample of Ortofon’s first stereo cartridge. This was indeed, as you mention, two monophonic generators arranged at right angles to one another and at 45 degrees to the record surface. The two generators were connected to the stylus/cantilever by a complex linkage arrangement. As such, they would have been difficult and expensive to make. One of our members, Andy (BTH K10A) kindly provided this photo:



Now the magazine article you provide refers to the Electro-Sonic Laboratories C99 stereo cartridge. Electro-Sonic laboratories (ESL) were a Danish company of the ‘50s and ‘60s. All of their products were unmistakably Ortofon in disguise. It would seem that your "Ortofon" cartridge is an ESL C99 as you surmise. Although I’m a little puzzled by the use of the later EIA/SME ‘square’ contact arrangement, rather than the Neumann/EMT ‘diamond’ arrangement.

Finally, you state your arm is an Ortofon RM309. The fact you use your SPU cartridge (mounted in the long “whale-shaped” type G headshell) suggests it is actually an RMG309 arm. As such your new “Ortofon” cartridge, mounted in the short square-shaped type A headshell, needs the longer RMA309 arm. To use cartridges mounted in the type A headshell in RMG arms, you will need the Ortofon AJ-1 adaptor.

Regards

[BTH K10A]

Hi Barry

The Ortofon/SME bayonet is normal for A shell stereo. The EMT diamond versions are rare.

It's certainly and ortofon C-99 and the ESL version was just badge engineering.

The gyro / jewel is an interesting one though. IT it an Ortofon or is it an ESL development?

[Barry]

Hi Andy,

I was hoping you might "pop your head round the door" to help me out.

That is the first time I've seen concrete evidence to the Ortofon 'double mono' SC design. Could I add it (with acknowledgements) to the Library article? What ever happened to the Type B shells?

Your later images refer to the American ESL company - references to the "High Fidelity Customer's Bureau of Standards" suggest such. I don't know how they were related to the Danish company, but their designs certainly look similar to those of the Danish company. I suspect the American ESL were a separate company that bought the rights to the Danish company's designs. Certainly the early Danish ESL designs were 'badge engineered' Ortofon designs: probably made under license.

Interesting - I'll have to do some more research.

Thanks

Regards

[BTH K10A]

Hi Barry

There was only A & G. I have been told that the G shell was developed so owners could use other cartridges with Ortofon arms in a similar vein the the EMT TSD-G headshell. The G shell also permitted the use ofSUT's in the headshell. I can no longer remember what the G stood for (a sign of old age) but it was not intended to be an alphabetical sequence.

ESL were an American company the liscenced Ortofon products. I believe they also commissioned Ortofon to produce unique products for them such as rth ESL 1000 and 2000 tonarms.

One thing I've always wondered was that as the Ortofon arms designated 297 and 309 had effective lengths of the same as their designation, did the Ortofon made ESL-310 have an effective length of 310mm?