Ortofon MC Anna Diamond Heritage

The Ortofon Exclusives series of our highest-performing Moving Coil cartridges has now been expanded to include a new premier model - the MC Anna Diamond.

The MC Anna Diamond model represents the highest echelon of Moving Coil cartridges.

As its name suggests, the MC Anna Diamond uses a Diamond cantilever that in combination with Ortofon Replicant 100 diamond offers extreme transparency, speed and responsiveness beyond that of any other combination.

This state of the art product, representative of numerous Ortofon design elements and ideas, is truly exemplary of the highest degree of performance possible in contemporary analogue playback technology.

Technical specifications

• Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5cm/sec.  -  0.2 mV
• Channel balance at 1 kHz  -  0.5 dB
• Channel separation at 1 kHz  -  25 dB
• Channel separation at 15 kHz  -  22 dB
• Frequency response  -  20 Hz - 20 kHz +/- 1.5 dB
• Tracking ability at 315Hz at recommended tracking force  -  80 µm
• Compliance, dynamic, lateral  -  9 µm/mN
• Stylus type  -  Special polished Nude Ortofon Replicant 100 on Diamond Cantilever
• Stylus tip radius  -  r/R 5/100 µm
• Tracking force, recommended  -  2.4 g (24 mN)
• Tracking angle  -  23°
• Internal impedance, DC resistance  -  6 Ohm
• Recommended load impedance    > 10 Ohm
• Cartridge body material  -  SLM Titanium
• Cartridge colour  -  Silver/Black
• Cartridge weight  -  16 gram

LW-800S leadwires enclosed the package.

• Design elements

• The cartridge housing and the body are made in Titanium with the SLM

• High-performance iron-cobalt alloy is applied for select parts of the magnet system.

• The Wide-Range armature damping system provides complete elimination of unwanted resonance.

• The Ortofon Replicant 100 diamond, thin and light, with an extraordinarily large contact surface, provides tracing accuracy unparalleled by any other needle in existence.

• The use of Diamond cantilever in the MC Anna Diamond has prompted a paradigm shift in our understanding of analogue reproduction. The improvements found in the use of a Diamond cantilever have redefined the boundaries of analog reproduction, presenting greater inner detail, subtlety, and depth like never before.

Watch this video: Leif Johannsen, the Ortofon's Chief Acoustics and Development, elaborates on his considerations about the cantilever design and the rubber suspension choice - the decisive factors in creating this true successor of the MC Century. 

• High-end materials and benefits of technology

The MC Anna Diamond employs a greater degree of control over vibrations by a way of a newly-improved Wide-Range armature damping system. By extending the armature beyond the coils, it can interface directly with the rubber dampers, which sandwich a small heavy disc of platinum. This offers more consistent movement, and thereby better stereo perspective and transient delineation.

System resonances are also damped by the use of the Thermo Plastic Elastomer (TPE) compound which comprises the bottom cover assembly.

The MC Anna Diamond makes use of Ortofon’s Replicant 100 diamond, known for its thin and light profile and extraordinarily large contact surface. Since the Replicant 100 is closest to the shape of the cutting stylus, it can trace with accuracy unparalleled by any other needle in existence. Special polishing of the diamond along with the use of a Diamond cantilever provides the best possible interface between the stylus and armature, owing to its hardness and crystal structure. 

• Higher efficiency magnet system

The optimized geometry of the magnet system combined with choice materials like neodymium and iron-cobalt offers an unprecedented consistency of the flux density within the system’s air gap. Due to an increase of active material inside of the magnet system, the magnetic field strength is delivered more uniformly, allowing each coil to sense identical flux density regardless of its position. Because of this, dynamics and impulse linearity are preserved to an overwhelming extent.

The use of this optimized magnet system allows for the use of a lightweight, non-magnetic armature, which also provides noteworthy benefit to the dynamic capability of the MC Anna Diamond. The reason for this is that our specially designed precision moulded non-magnetic armature does not alter the magnetic field during movement. Hence when combined with ultrapure oxygen-free copper coil wire, it delivers perfect reproduction of the cantilever movements without compromise. The material applied for the armature has very high strength and rigidity.

• MC Anna Diamond set-up and alignment

As with any cartridge, setup is absolutely crucial in order to ensure the best sound reproduction capabilities. Although there are many valid paradigms that exist with regard to cartridge setup, Ortofon does not endorse a specific methodology and encourages users to explore the options as suggested by their high end audio dealer, including professional setup.

In addition to alignment, consideration must be made to adjust azimuth, anti-skating and VTA in order to maximize the potential performance of any high end cartridge.

• STYLUS RAKE ANGLE (SRA)

With a complex stylus shape like the Replicant 100, there must be special attention paid to positioning the diamond in the groove. The SRA (see figure in the left) is very important to the performance of the Replicant 100 stylus, and the long contact surface (the sharp edge) of the diamond should be almost perpendicular to the record surface when viewed from the side.  The angle between the record surface and the cantilever is close to 23 degrees when SRA is 90 degrees.

A perfect starting point is to set the tonearm parallel to the record surface and to use the recommended tracking force. The contact surface will be close to perpendicular to the record surface with this setting. The SRA can now gradually and carefully be changed be adjusting VTF and, if necessary, the tonearm height. The target should be an SRA around 92 degrees, determined by the listening experience. In other words, the point of the stylus should point slightly towards the tonearm base.