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Ortofon 2M Red premounted on headshell

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 780 ratings

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Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Purchase options and add-ons

  • Universal mount fitting a wide range of S-shaped tonearms
  • Upgrade from stock cartridges
  • The Ortofon 2M Red is an all-purpose cartridge that delivers open, dynamic sound with a slight touch of warmth
  • The Ortofon 2M Red features an elliptical diamond
  • Can be upgraded with an Ortofon Stylus 2M Blue

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Ortofon 2M Red premounted on headshell
Ortofon 2M Red premounted on headshell
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Price$159.00$179.00$235.98$39.99$695.00
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Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Customer Ratings
Sound quality
4.7
3.9
5.0
4.7
Accuracy
4.7
4.1
5.0
4.9
Easy to install
4.8
4.7
5.0
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Ortofon 2M Red premounted on headshell


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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
780 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the sound quality, quality and value of the cartridge. For example, they mention that it has excellent tonality through out, it's a very warm sound and that it'll last a long time. They appreciate the value for money, saying that it’s regarded as a well regarded budget cartridge. Customers are also impresseded with the ease of installation, saying it’ll be a fairly easy yet precise exercise. They also like the performance, saying the stylus worked for 3 weeks great and that the performance is great for a high end entry cartridge.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

145 customers mention131 positive14 negative

Customers are satisfied with the sound quality of the product. They mention that it has excellent tonality throughout, has more bass and highs, and has a very warm sound. The high notes and treble are more pronounced, and the soundstage is wide and bright. The vocals are always crisp and clean, and this stylus takes them to a whole new level.

"...The soundstage was wide and bright, but the bass still punched through the way it should. Midrange is excellent. Highs are good, but not perfect...." Read more

"...The Denon comes with a cartridge mounted on the tonearm, and it sounded pretty good...." Read more

"...While Amy’s vocals were always crisp and clean, this stylus took them to a whole new level — backing tracks included...." Read more

"Great looking, and sounding cartridge...." Read more

87 customers mention76 positive11 negative

Customers like the quality of the cartridge. They say it's a very nice upgrade with crisp highs and tight lows. They also say it makes them appreciate each note.

"...My albums seem to come to life and make me appreciate each note...." Read more

"...This has made our vinyl experience even better. Every sound is clearer, crisper, sharper, cleaner. Every album is a new experience...." Read more

"...hear a massive difference in volume, frequency range, and overall life of the music. Highly recommend. I’m impressed." Read more

"...one of the more inexpensive Ortofon cartridges, but the difference it made is amazing. I can only imagine what the higher-end Ortofons could do...." Read more

48 customers mention43 positive5 negative

Customers like the value of the sound and recording equipment. They say it's a good investment that won't break the bank. Customers also mention that it'll sound great for the money.

"...the reviews, this Ortofon 2M RED seemed to be a pretty reasonably priced major audio upgrade...." Read more

"...this was a great way to make my system sound much better at a reasonable price point...." Read more

"...I got the AT95EX. It's a well regarded budget cartridge. I did the same setup for this new cartridge...." Read more

"...I can only imagine what the higher-end Ortofons could do. Excellent return for the money." Read more

36 customers mention36 positive0 negative

Customers find the installation of the sound and recording equipment to be easy. They mention that the included headshell makes it easier to setup and balance it, and the mounting and set up is a fairly easy yet precise exercise. They also say that changing out the cartridge is super easy with the headshell.

"...The good:Super quick install/setup. This package contains a really high quality head-shell and cartridge...." Read more

"...Makes it easy to switch out cartridges." Read more

"...It's cheap, available on Amazon and easy to use (check out YouTube for how-to videos)." Read more

"...Setup was easy enough, just make sure to balance well!" Read more

17 customers mention17 positive0 negative

Customers are satisfied with the performance of the sound and recording equipment. They mention that it works well, has a positive initial reaction, and provides a crisp high-end response. Some say that the overall experience is amazing.

"...cleaner/clearer sound I'm hearing with it, particularly the crisper high end response. Bass is very solid, powerful, seems more precise...." Read more

"Still breaking in needle. Positive initial reaction. Seems to produce a fuller Overall sound." Read more

"...The base is slightly to forward for my ears, but the overall experience is so amazing that I accept that...." Read more

"WORKS GOOD. WILL IT LAST A LONG TIME?" Read more

15 customers mention15 positive0 negative

Customers like the detail of the sound and recording equipment. They say it provides more detail and warmth to their listening experience, with clarity. Some mention that it brings out details on records they've listened to dozens of times. Overall, most are satisfied with the product's detail.

"...Holy cow, what a difference! There was plenty of bass and detailed highs, but no longer the shrill highs. Cymbals and bells are so lifelike...." Read more

"...It successfully walks the line between warm and detailed. The 2m Blue, while incredibly detailed and accurate, was too bright for me in the end...." Read more

"...Volume - its seems to give about 20% more volume2) Clarity - everything is much more present and 'listenable'..." Read more

"...The clarity was amazing. The sound warm. And it completely took me aback. The Kenwood was my backup turntable. WAS...." Read more

13 customers mention13 positive0 negative

Customers are impressed with the appearance of the sound and recording equipment. They say it has an amazing look, feel, sound, and build. Customers also mention that it compliments the Art DJ 2 preamp nicely. They love the red color and find the cymbals and bells to be lifelike.

"...As you can see by the pictures I posted, the 2M and headshell combo look great on the LP120...." Read more

"...Cymbals and bells are so lifelike. I would still call the sound "bright", but in a good way...." Read more

"The 200M Red with the DP300F sounds absolutely amazing, aesthetics also on par. Setup was easy enough, just make sure to balance well!" Read more

"...I’m really happy with it. Plus, it looks slick as heck!..." Read more

13 customers mention13 positive0 negative

Customers like the sharpness of the sound and recording equipment. They mention that the midrange is clean, and the highs are clear and sharp. They also say the sound is clearer, crisper, and brighter, with both ends high and low much clearer. Customers also say that the cartridge has a higher output overall than the green AT cartridge. Overall, customers are happy with the sharp, punchy character of the product.

"...Midrange is excellent. Highs are good, but not perfect. I’m told the 2M Blue addresses highs better...." Read more

"...Every sound is clearer, crisper, sharper, cleaner. Every album is a new experience. Would highly recommend ortofon" Read more

"...The highs were higher and the bass was bassier, very present, to say the least. Now, I was skeptical about purchasing a $130 needle...." Read more

"...The bass is deeper, the midrange is clean, and the highs are clear and sharp (but not bright as some reviewers have stated)...." Read more

Get that vertical tracking angle set correctly and you'll be happy! (AT LP-120 specific)
4 Stars
Get that vertical tracking angle set correctly and you'll be happy! (AT LP-120 specific)
First off, I want to say that this cartridge has forced me to pay more attention to setting up my turntable. That's a good thing, I've learned a lot in the last few days. I am making the slow, incremental progression up the turntable ladder. Many will say that this gear isn't really high end. I guess that depends on your priorities and budget. Here is my experience. My "low end" audio gear is the LP-120 TT, a Yamaha R-S202 amplifier, a set of KEF Q-100 speakers and a cheapish Sony 10" sub woofer. I use speaker level inputs and outputs through the sub woofer since my amplifier doesn't have a sub out. I think my system probably cost about $850 all in before the new cartridge. So yeah, a fairly budget system. I have a growing collection of vinyl, some new, some old......some really "old". I wanted to step up my game with a nicer sounding cartridge. So, when I saw this combo I decided that it would be nice to have two complete head shells so that I could swap back and forth for different records and have one "beater" cartridge/head shell for the not so pristine records that I own or if I decided that certain records sound better with a specific cartridge. I own an Audio Technica LP-120 direct drive turntable that came with an AT95e cartridge. I had put a bunch of hours on it and knocked it around accidentally a few times and it just seemed to be degrading from a sound standpoint. There are a few caveats with the LP-120. One is increased surface noise due to the direct drive motor. This has never really bothered me too much and I've never had a really quiet TT to compare it to. The other problem that seems to be common is that the vertical tracking angle adjustment, the huge mechanism that is the entire base of the tone arm assembly, is way too high at its minimum setting - meaning that the cartridge is always angled down towards the head shell end of the tone arm. Anyway, I put the new cartridge/head shell on and gave it a whirl. I had looked into the proper way of aligning the cartridge. There are two ways. One is to measure from the gasket on the head shell to the tip of the stylus and make the cartridge square in the head shell at 52 or 53 mm. The other way is to buy or print out a protractor with alignment marks at several points on the arc of the tone arm travel. I used a hybrid method. I set the overhang to 53mm and then used the protractor, which I downloaded from Audio Technica, to do the final adjustments. I'm glad I did as the cartridge ended up being canted in slightly toward the spindle when it was properly set. So next was a listen. I was not impressed at all. Although there was lots of detail, the highs were really shrill. On top of that, the bass was almost non existent unless it was cranked way up on the amplifier. I already knew about the VTA problem, but this table had always sounded better than first one I had so I didn't really have an example to reference what was good or bad. This is when I started researching these issues online. I found lots of great debates on audiophile forums about proper VTA and its importance or lack thereof. The one thing that kept coming up on the threads was a correlation between a stylus that was angled downward and the sounds that I was hearing from my new cartridge. So I stacked up two OEM Audio Technica felt mats and put my rubber mat on top to bring the head shell level with the record. Holy cow, what a difference! There was plenty of bass and detailed highs, but no longer the shrill highs. Cymbals and bells are so lifelike. I would still call the sound "bright", but in a good way. I now prefer to listen with the bass and treble on the amp set at zero. If I adjust one or the other, I feel like I'm losing something. It sounds great. The tall mass of sound deadening material on the platter has also made the surface noise better I think. There is just enough spindle poking out to work, but the record weight that I use is a tad floppy on top now because of the lack of vertical spindle left over. In the mean time, I had ordered a replacement stylus for the OEM AT head shell. I got the AT95EX. It's a well regarded budget cartridge. I did the same setup for this new cartridge. It seemed to be a little less picky about the VTA when compared to the Ortofon 2M Red. It also sounds great. It has more bass but it's a little boomy and the highs are not as well defined. It sounds really good, until I put the Ortofon back on. I'd say the sound of the AT95EX is creamier but less defined. The Ortofon definitely sounds better and more lifelike to me. As far as swapping head shells goes, the weight is different between the two cartridge/head shell combinations. The AT head shell with the AT95EX weighs 14.45 grams while the Ortofon combo weighs 16.88 grams. I wanted to be able to swap between the two quickly so I weighed the Ortofon out on a separate digital scale to have a vertical tracking force of 2g. I then taped the tonearm weight scale to the weight itself and set it at 2. I then weighed the VTF of the AT combo and it came out to something like .68 grams when the weight is set for the Ortofon combo. Using a separate digital scale set to the same height as a record, I set the tracking force to 2 grams and ended up with the tone arm weight scale reading 3 grams. So now I can just switch cartridges and spin the coupled tone arm weight and scale from 2 to 3 grams. the whole process takes 30 seconds. Remember, this review is very specific to the AT LP-120 turntable. Of course, vertical tracking angle is something that you will have to deal with on any table. And my experience shows that setting the correct angle is very important for this cartridge. My only question now is how the three layers of mats are affecting the sound. There isn't much I can do short of swapping mat materials or shimming the head shell. That would have to be a big shim, several millimeters thick. So for now this is my best option. I'm sure that I'll buy a new turntable a some point and I can do this all over again.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2022
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JB
5.0 out of 5 stars Ortofon Red - Great for Heavy Metal
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2022
First things first: I have a Technics SL-1600. The headshell replacement was a piece of cake. Adjusted the counterbalance to get it to the 1.8 grams. Checked the alignment with a printable turntable protractor, adjusted the overhang 1/16 of an inch, and was good to go.

The good:
Super quick install/setup. This package contains a really high quality head-shell and cartridge. The music I chose was an album I’ve listened to for decades. I was shocked how much more crisp and clear the music came through.

The soundstage was wide and bright, but the bass still punched through the way it should. Midrange is excellent. Highs are good, but not perfect. I’m told the 2M Blue addresses highs better. I’m nit picking though, it sounds incredible.

The bad:
Pretty pricey head-shell/cartridge combo. $50 for it to be installed on a head-shell is something I wouldn’t pay for again. I cannot critique much else.

My music sounds great, it was easy to install, and I’m glad I made the purchase.
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8 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2019
9 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2023
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Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2019
Customer image
4.0 out of 5 stars Get that vertical tracking angle set correctly and you'll be happy! (AT LP-120 specific)
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2019
First off, I want to say that this cartridge has forced me to pay more attention to setting up my turntable. That's a good thing, I've learned a lot in the last few days. I am making the slow, incremental progression up the turntable ladder. Many will say that this gear isn't really high end. I guess that depends on your priorities and budget. Here is my experience. My "low end" audio gear is the LP-120 TT, a Yamaha R-S202 amplifier, a set of KEF Q-100 speakers and a cheapish Sony 10" sub woofer. I use speaker level inputs and outputs through the sub woofer since my amplifier doesn't have a sub out. I think my system probably cost about $850 all in before the new cartridge. So yeah, a fairly budget system.
I have a growing collection of vinyl, some new, some old......some really "old". I wanted to step up my game with a nicer sounding cartridge. So, when I saw this combo I decided that it would be nice to have two complete head shells so that I could swap back and forth for different records and have one "beater" cartridge/head shell for the not so pristine records that I own or if I decided that certain records sound better with a specific cartridge. I own an Audio Technica LP-120 direct drive turntable that came with an AT95e cartridge. I had put a bunch of hours on it and knocked it around accidentally a few times and it just seemed to be degrading from a sound standpoint. There are a few caveats with the LP-120. One is increased surface noise due to the direct drive motor. This has never really bothered me too much and I've never had a really quiet TT to compare it to. The other problem that seems to be common is that the vertical tracking angle adjustment, the huge mechanism that is the entire base of the tone arm assembly, is way too high at its minimum setting - meaning that the cartridge is always angled down towards the head shell end of the tone arm.
Anyway, I put the new cartridge/head shell on and gave it a whirl. I had looked into the proper way of aligning the cartridge. There are two ways. One is to measure from the gasket on the head shell to the tip of the stylus and make the cartridge square in the head shell at 52 or 53 mm. The other way is to buy or print out a protractor with alignment marks at several points on the arc of the tone arm travel. I used a hybrid method. I set the overhang to 53mm and then used the protractor, which I downloaded from Audio Technica, to do the final adjustments. I'm glad I did as the cartridge ended up being canted in slightly toward the spindle when it was properly set. So next was a listen. I was not impressed at all. Although there was lots of detail, the highs were really shrill. On top of that, the bass was almost non existent unless it was cranked way up on the amplifier. I already knew about the VTA problem, but this table had always sounded better than first one I had so I didn't really have an example to reference what was good or bad. This is when I started researching these issues online. I found lots of great debates on audiophile forums about proper VTA and its importance or lack thereof. The one thing that kept coming up on the threads was a correlation between a stylus that was angled downward and the sounds that I was hearing from my new cartridge. So I stacked up two OEM Audio Technica felt mats and put my rubber mat on top to bring the head shell level with the record. Holy cow, what a difference! There was plenty of bass and detailed highs, but no longer the shrill highs. Cymbals and bells are so lifelike. I would still call the sound "bright", but in a good way. I now prefer to listen with the bass and treble on the amp set at zero. If I adjust one or the other, I feel like I'm losing something. It sounds great. The tall mass of sound deadening material on the platter has also made the surface noise better I think. There is just enough spindle poking out to work, but the record weight that I use is a tad floppy on top now because of the lack of vertical spindle left over.
In the mean time, I had ordered a replacement stylus for the OEM AT head shell. I got the AT95EX. It's a well regarded budget cartridge. I did the same setup for this new cartridge. It seemed to be a little less picky about the VTA when compared to the Ortofon 2M Red. It also sounds great. It has more bass but it's a little boomy and the highs are not as well defined. It sounds really good, until I put the Ortofon back on. I'd say the sound of the AT95EX is creamier but less defined. The Ortofon definitely sounds better and more lifelike to me.
As far as swapping head shells goes, the weight is different between the two cartridge/head shell combinations. The AT head shell with the AT95EX weighs 14.45 grams while the Ortofon combo weighs 16.88 grams. I wanted to be able to swap between the two quickly so I weighed the Ortofon out on a separate digital scale to have a vertical tracking force of 2g. I then taped the tonearm weight scale to the weight itself and set it at 2. I then weighed the VTF of the AT combo and it came out to something like .68 grams when the weight is set for the Ortofon combo. Using a separate digital scale set to the same height as a record, I set the tracking force to 2 grams and ended up with the tone arm weight scale reading 3 grams. So now I can just switch cartridges and spin the coupled tone arm weight and scale from 2 to 3 grams. the whole process takes 30 seconds.
Remember, this review is very specific to the AT LP-120 turntable. Of course, vertical tracking angle is something that you will have to deal with on any table. And my experience shows that setting the correct angle is very important for this cartridge. My only question now is how the three layers of mats are affecting the sound. There isn't much I can do short of swapping mat materials or shimming the head shell. That would have to be a big shim, several millimeters thick. So for now this is my best option. I'm sure that I'll buy a new turntable a some point and I can do this all over again.
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67 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2023
One person found this helpful
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Rik
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2023
One person found this helpful
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Rodolfo Ramírez
5.0 out of 5 stars Una elección muy sencilla
Reviewed in Mexico on June 24, 2020
One person found this helpful
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Sukhendu Joshi
5.0 out of 5 stars Ortofon: 2M Red Cartridge
Reviewed in India on April 1, 2018
One person found this helpful
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有一樣缺點,甩毛,黐咗落隻黑膠唱片度,有什麼辦法,可以令佢唔甩毛
5.0 out of 5 stars 想知道這系列的唱頭是何級數?
Reviewed in Japan on May 27, 2023
One person found this helpful
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Chad
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best
Reviewed in Australia on March 9, 2021