I don't know what to do. I have a Dual CS 5000. Although I purchased a Grado Gold for it. It sounds just fine to me, I play mostly classical and jazz. I'm really curious to try an Ortofon OM 30 because I heard they go together well. The only solution I can think of is to find one on E-bay or stay curious and do nothing. I welcome opinions and solutions.

Thank You

The Grado Gold is a nice cartridge so you aren't doing badly in the meantime waiting to try other cartridges. Unless you have friends/a local dealer where you can hear different cartridges before buying, it's buy and try. We have a couple of vendors online who sell Ortofon so you might try contacting them and see if you can get a good deal.

The general recommendation now seems to be to just go with the new 2M series that Ortofon has. I've read nothing but rave reviews about those here and elsewhere, though I've never heard one.

Buy a good used OM or OM Super body with any stylus and get an OM 30 stylus for it. You can buy a body off the 'Bay with an OM10 on it now and upgrade, Or ...

Contact Fred Longworth (AK Sponsor) and see if he has any still in stock (he's Orto dealer)?

The 2M series is quite a bit heavier. Although they sound fine by reports, you are loosing some of the "magic" between the DUAL ULM arm and the cartridge by moving up to the later body style. I'd be looking at an OM Super as the best compromise and pulling the auxiliary weight out of the top to get the total mass as low as possible to see what this all really about :)

Can the OM 30 Super stylus be used with any OM body, or does it have to be an OM Super body?

Not sure, that is a Fred Longworth question?

In general I like Ortofon carts very much, think they are excellent in many ways. The new line 2M have had very good reviews, but I have not yet heard any of them. The fact is that they are fairly heavy and need a low mass tone arm, so they would certainly fit the ULM nicely. On the other hand the OM30 is also excellent and must be compared with 2M Bronze regarding performance. The OM series is versatile in that it´s easy to adjust the mass to fit different tone arms. I have myself choosen the OM30, and it´s really IMO a bargain.
gusten

Can the OM 30 Super stylus be used with any OM body, or does it have to be an OM Super body?

From the Ortofon Super OM Data Sheet:

"The Super OM stylus units are also compatible with all the bodies of the entire Ortofon OM/P line. If you own an OM cartridge, you are able to enjoy the improved stylus and cantilever technology of the Super OM range. However, it takes a Super OM body with Ortofon's new magnetic circuitry to realize the full Super OM potential."

Yes, the styli are interchangeable. So, over time, a person could buy a Super OM 10 cartridge with stylus, and then upgrade the styli through the 20, 30 and 40.

The OM Super 30 stylus uses a nude, fine-line geometry. It has low mass, is coupled directly to the cantilever, has a "footprint" that reproduces subtle details yet does not apply undue pressure on the vinyl, and rides lower in the groove so as to miss much of the prior wear.

The underlined attribute is worth a little further discussion. If you make the stylus narrower front-to-back at the point of contact with the vinyl, you can pick up more subtle details, but you also run the risk of increasing force per unit area (pressure) -- and this will cause added vinyl wear. So, you need to be sure that the top-to-bottom dimension is long. These photos of a Super OM 30 stylus underscore the above point.

http://www.micrographia.com/projec/projapps/viny/viny0300.htm

However, there is one caveat. To take advantage of much of the superb performance of a Super OM 30 stylus, you need to adjust the vertical tracking angle VERY critically.

Fred

Yes, the styli are interchangeable. So, over time, a person could buy a Super OM 10 cartridge with stylus, and then upgrade the styli through the 20, 30 and 40.

The OM Super 30 stylus uses a nude, fine-line geometry. It has low mass, is coupled directly to the cantilever, has a "footprint" that reproduces subtle details yet does not apply undue pressure on the vinyl, and rides lower in the groove so as to miss much of the prior wear.

The underlined attribute is worth a little further discussion. If you make the stylus narrower front-to-back at the point of contact with the vinyl, you can pick up more subtle details, but you also run the risk of increasing force per unit area (pressure) -- and this will cause added vinyl wear. So, you need to be sure that the top-to-bottom dimension is long. These photos of a Super OM 30 stylus underscore the above point.

http://www.micrographia.com/projec/projapps/viny/viny0300.htm

However, there is one caveat. To take advantage of much of the superb performance of a Super OM 30 stylus, you need to adjust the vertical tracking angle VERY critically.

Fred

Indeed!

I'm using an old 20 stylus (with plenty of life left in it) in 10 Super body, and I had to use paper shims to get my cart to ride level. Each shim of .006" changed the tilt approximately 0.5°... even ol' tin-ears here could hear the difference. So imagine how critical an OM 30 stylus is!

Great pix, Fred.

Tom

I'm certainly sold on Ortofon cartridges. I'm running a KAB Ortofon ProS40 (custom integrated headshell/cartridge) on my new Technics SL-1200MK5. The sound quality and tracking ability is superb.