Ortofon - Quintet Blue MC Phono Cartridge

The Quintet Red’s tip geometry, mounted nude, with pure four-nines silver coil wire.

Every Quintet shares the same 9g body with a threaded aluminium frame, neodymium magnets, the same 15 µm/mN compliance, the same 2.1 to 2.5g tracking force window with 2.3g recommended, the same 20 to 25kHz frequency range and the same minimum load of 20 ohms. Ortofon designs the internal impedance deliberately low so the cartridge is forgiving about phono stage loading, and the practical consequence is that moving up the range never means relearning setup.

The Blue keeps the Red’s 0.5mV output, 7 ohm internal impedance and 8/18 µm tip geometry, and changes two things: the diamond is nude-mounted on an aluminium cantilever rather than bonded, and the coils are wound with pure four-nines silver. Tracking ability improves from 65 to 70 µm.

Ortofon’s own positioning is worth quoting because it is unusually candid about where each model sits: the Blue’s sound image tends towards smoother reproduction compared with the Quintet Red, and moderate dynamic strength compared with the Quintet Bronze. It brings more space, depth and detail, and Ortofon calls it a very good choice for any kind of music, especially rhythmic.

Features

• Nude elliptical diamond, r/R 8/18 µm, on an aluminium cantilever
• Coils wound from pure four-nines (99.99%) silver
• 0.5mV output with a low 7 ohm internal impedance
• 70 µm tracking ability at 315Hz
• Neodymium magnets
• Threaded aluminium frame; 5mm or 7mm screws supplied
• 9g body, 2.3g recommended tracking force, load above 20 ohms

Specifications

• Type: Moving coil stereo cartridge
• Output Voltage: 0.5mV at 1kHz, 5cm/sec
• Channel Balance at 1kHz: Less than 1.5dB
• Channel Separation at 1kHz: Greater than 21dB
• Channel Separation at 15kHz: Greater than 14dB (Ortofon Quintet brochure)
• Frequency Range: 20Hz – 25,000Hz at −3dB
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz, ±2.5dB
• Tracking Ability at 315Hz: 70 µm
• Compliance: 15 µm/mN, dynamic lateral
• Stylus Type: Nude elliptical
• Stylus Tip Radius: r/R 8/18 µm — the same geometry as the Quintet Red. The difference between the two is nude mounting and coil wire, not tip shape
• Cantilever: Aluminium, stated in Ortofon’s prose. The specification table row itself is left empty
• Coil Wire: Pure four-nines silver (99.99%)
• Magnets: Neodymium
• Tracking Force Range: 2.1 – 2.5g
• Recommended Tracking Force: 2.3g
• Tracking Angle: 20°
• Internal Impedance, DC Resistance: 7 Ω
• Recommended Load Impedance: Greater than 20 Ω
• Cartridge Body Material: Ortofon contradicts itself on this. The specification tables on both its sites say PC, the Quintet Bronze product prose says a special ABS thermoplastic, Ortofon’s own Quintet brochure says ABS with aluminium, and its UK distributor describes a lightweight ABS body around an aluminium core. We are not going to state one as fact
• Colour: Blue
• Cartridge Weight: 9g
• Mounting: Half inch top mount with threaded holes; 5mm or 7mm screws supplied
• Stylus Replacement: Ortofon states plainly that the styli in moving coil cartridges are non-replaceable, so there is no swap-in stylus for this cartridge. What Ortofon runs instead is an Exchange Service through participating authorised dealers: a worn or damaged MC cartridge — any condition, bought anywhere — is taken in at 25% of the current list price against the purchase of a new Ortofon cartridge of equivalent or better model. Note that is a credit against a new purchase, not a repair price. Ortofon also runs a separate Repair Service for out-of-warranty MC cartridges
• Tonearm Matching: Ortofon publishes no recommended tonearm effective mass for this model. Its general guidance is that an arm of 10g effective mass or below counts as low mass and 11 to 25g as moderate mass, that high mass requires low compliance and vice versa, and that the target is a cartridge and arm system resonance between 7 and 12Hz, with 10Hz recommended
• Stylus Life: Ortofon rates its styli at up to 1000 hours with proper care. This is a general figure across the range rather than a per-model specification
• Origin: Ortofon A/S of Nakskov, Denmark. Ortofon states that all its cartridges are designed and crafted in Denmark
• Warranty: Ortofon publishes no warranty period for its moving coil cartridges on its own site. Ortofon Inc. covers cartridges bought from an authorised US dealer for one year against defects in workmanship and materials, excluding expendable items
• Not Published: Cantilever material as a specification row; channel separation at 15kHz on the product page; recommended tonearm effective mass
• Note: Trade press has reported the newer MC X series as replacing the Quintet range. Ortofon has published no such statement, and the Quintet models remain listed, priced and in stock on Ortofon’s own sites and in its Exchange Service table. The nearest thing to a manufacturer comment is an Ortofon engineer telling a magazine that the MC X takes performance to another level over the old Quintet range — a performance comparison, not a discontinuation