Book review: 'Ortofon - A Century of Accuracy in Sound'

[Barry]

I have just finished reading 'Ortofon - A Century of Accuracy in Sound' by Kevin Howlett, and commissioned by Ortofon to celebrate their centenary.



ISBN 978-87-970870-0-8 (2018)

This glossy coffee-table book is appropriately 12” square (presumably intended to be filed alongside one’s vinyl LP collection) and is a suitably weighty beast.

I bought it to learn more about the history of the Ortofon Company and also to learn more about the early Ortofon cartridges, pre and post SPU.

The history of the ups and downs of the Company and of the numerous changes of ownership are fascinating, as are the various connections with other audio manufacturers, both in the professional and domestic markets.

The book is divided into six chapters each covering an important period of Ortofon’s history, so deals with their development of fixed-coil designs in parallel with moving-coil designs for which Ortofon are famous (having patented the moving coil principle for cartridges in 1948).

Like other books written to celebrate a particular audio marque, this book is full of glossy and ‘arty’ photographs which I found to be distracting, and to some extent was an exercise in style over substance, as well as perhaps justifiable back slapping. Inter-dispersed throughout the book are sections on the ‘Golden Ear Records’ for the relevant periods covered. I didn’t think this at all important; unless one wanted to know of and hear those titles listened to by Ortofon to assess their designs.

Another minor grumble was there are some notable exclusions: there is no mention of the MC25FL, or of the SPU ‘Spirit’, or the SPU GM models. Another grumble is there is no index; something that I think is important and should be included.

I only found one (technical) typo error, and one incorrect caption. But the most annoying error (with my copy) was that pages 133 through to 144 of Chapter Six were duplicated!

This book is quite expensive, but I can commend it to Ortofon lovers, especially those who like Ortofon moving-coil designs.

[Gaz]

Nominated for several awards I hear, including

Most self indulgent book by a niche company

Least likely to bother the bestsellers list

And the coveted

Who in their right mind would buy this award.

Pre launch orders exceeded expectations by reaching double figures

[Barry]

I have several books written by enthusiasts on 'niche' audio manufacturers:

'Quad - The Closest Approach' by Ken Kessler,

'EMT - Deutsche Perfektion' by Stefano Pastini,

'Thorens - Swiss Precision' by Joachim Bung,

'Ferrograph - Built Like a Battleship' by Terri Martini,

'KEF - 50 Years of Innovation in Sound' by K. Kessler and Dr Andrew Watson


and I have to agree, none of the above are as glaringly self-indulgent as this book commissioned by Ortofon.

[Gaz]

Do you suffer from insomnia?

Any of those sound like a cure lol

[Barry]

Do you suffer from insomnia?

Any of those sound like a cure lol

No. I'm interested in the history and technology of audio reproduction. It's no different to reading books about Jaguar, Porsche or Ferrari etc. (or whatever your interests are).