Ortofon - 2M Blue Verso MM Cartridge - Bottom-Mount

The 2M Blue built for bottom-mount headshells — the same cartridge with its top plate reversed.

Most cartridges bolt to the underside of a headshell. A handful of headshell and integrated-arm designs instead require the cartridge to be attached from below, with the screws passing upward — a configuration an ordinary top-mount cartridge physically cannot accommodate. The Verso is Ortofon’s answer, and the solution is elegantly simple.

The 2M’s top plate is a separate part, so the Verso ships with that plate flipped 180 degrees and fitted with M2.0 screws, presenting a threaded face on what would normally be the underside. A Torx 8 key, supplied, handles the screws. Nothing else about the cartridge changes — same generator, same stylus, same 7.2g, same loading, same tracking force as the standard version.

The cartridge is the 2M Blue: a nude elliptical diamond at r/R 8/18 µm on an aluminium cantilever, 5.5mV output, 80 µm tracking ability and 25dB channel separation. It shares its generator with the 2M Red, and the entire performance gain over that model comes from mounting the diamond nude rather than bonding it to a shank — which is enough to lift tracking ability by 10 µm and separation by 3dB.

Features

• The 2M Blue cartridge configured for bottom-mount headshells
• Top plate reversed and fitted with M2.0 screws; Torx 8 key supplied
• Nude elliptical diamond, r/R 8/18 µm, on an aluminium cantilever
• 5.5mV output, 80 µm tracking ability, 25dB channel separation
• Quad-coil generator with split pole pins and OFC coil wire
• Electrically and mechanically identical to the standard 2M Blue

Specifications

• Type: Moving magnet stereo cartridge, bottom-mount configuration
• Mounting: Half inch bottom mount. The top plate is reversed and takes M2.0 screws, fitted and removed with the supplied Torx 8 key
• Output Voltage: 5.5mV at 1kHz, 5cm/sec
• Channel Balance at 1kHz: 1.5dB
• Channel Separation at 1kHz: 25dB
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz, +2 / −1dB
• Tracking Ability at 315Hz: 80 µm
• Compliance: 20 µm/mN, dynamic lateral
• Stylus Type: Nude elliptical
• Stylus Tip Radius: r/R 8/18 µm
• Cantilever: Aluminium
• Tracking Force Range: 1.6 – 2.0g (16 – 20mN)
• Recommended Tracking Force: 1.8g (18mN)
• Tracking Angle: 20°
• Internal Impedance, DC Resistance: 1.3k Ω
• Internal Inductance: 700mH
• Recommended Load Resistance: 47k Ω
• Recommended Load Capacitance: 150 – 300pF
• Coil System: Quad coils with split pole pins and OFC coil wire
• Cartridge Body: Polymer and aluminium
• Cartridge Weight: 7.2g
• Replacement Stylus: Stylus 2M Blue
• Stylus Life: Ortofon rates its styli at up to 1000 hours with proper care, and reckons DJ use at about 500 hours at most. This is a general figure across the range rather than a per-model specification
• Cleaning: Ortofon warns specifically against propyl alcohol and other cleaning fluids, which can seriously damage the diamond cement and the suspension system
• Origin: Ortofon A/S of Nakskov, Denmark. Ortofon states that all its cartridges are designed and crafted in Denmark
• Warranty: Ortofon Inc. covers products bought from an authorised US dealer for one year against defects in workmanship and materials, and excludes expendable items. A stylus is an expendable item, so a worn stylus is not a warranty matter — this is a replacement part, not a claim
• Not Published: Any list of headshells or turntables that require bottom mounting; a Verso-specific weight or dimensions; itemised box contents; any statement that standard 2M styli fit Verso bodies
• Note: Two things to know. Ortofon does not name a single headshell or turntable that requires bottom mounting, so if you are unsure whether you need a Verso, check your headshell before ordering or ask us. And Ortofon’s replacement stylus pages list the standard, 2MR and premounted bodies but omit the Verso entirely — standard 2M styli do fit, since the body is mechanically identical, but Ortofon has never stated it in writing. Ortofon’s Verso specification tables also carry a “premounted cartridge weight” row inherited from the standard 2M template, which is meaningless for a bottom-mount cartridge — a Verso is not sold premounted on a headshell