Ortofon Launches The Windfeld Ti Cartridge
Stereophile|August 2017

Ortofon, which turns 100 next year, launched the original Windfeld cartridge nearly a decade ago. Named for cartridge designer Per Windfeld—who had just retired at age 75, after 30 years with the company—that top-of-the-line cartridge cost $3400 at the time of its introduction.

 
Michael Fremer
Ortofon Launches The Windfeld Ti Cartridge

Between 1976 and 2006, Per Windfeld oversaw the development of cartridges from the top to the bottom of Ortofon’s extensive line, including the MC 20, MC Rohmann, and MC Jubilee, as well as Ortofon’s many series of models: MC Super, Kontrapunkt, MC Rondo, and the budget-priced OM and Concorde DJ series. In a recent interview, Windfeld said that he figures he’s developed at least 50 cartridge models. I’m glad he’s still going strong, and has lived to see the remarkable resurgence of vinyl.

The original Windfeld cartridge was the first developed by its namesake’s successor, Leif Johannsen, Ortofon’s manager of R&D. It retained many of the Per Windfeld innovations found in other Ortofons, including Wide Range Damping (WRD): two dampers of different viscosities clamping between them a small, heavy, metal disc. At the time, Ortofon claimed that the WRD assembly produces ideal motor damping throughout and beyond the audioband, to help produce a linear, unusually extended frequency response and outstanding tracking at a vertical tracking force (VTF) of 2.6gm.

The original Windfeld’s low-mass, high-rigidity generator had a boron cantilever and coils wound with Ortofon’s Aucurum wire—gold-plated, 99.9999%-oxygen-free monocrystalline copper—onto a precision armature. The claimed results are high channel separation, lower distortion, and better channel balance. A strong neodymium magnet system combined elements of Per Windfeld’s Kontrapunkt and MC Jubilee designs with a Field Stabilizing Element (FSE) inside the magnet system, to produce a linear magnetic field throughout the armature’s movement. The result, according to Ortofon, was a 4 ohm, 0.3mV-output system with lower levels of intermodulation and dynamic distortion.

Denne historien er fra August 2017-utgaven av Stereophile.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra August 2017-utgaven av Stereophile.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA STEREOPHILESe alt
Louis in London
Stereophile

Louis in London

No jazz-centric visit to New York City is complete without a trek out to Queens. At 46th Street in Sunnyside stands the apartment building where famed cornetist Leon Bismark \"Bix\" Beiderbecke's alcoholism finally killed him in 1931.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2024
Believing in bricks and mortar
Stereophile

Believing in bricks and mortar

North Carolina hi-fi dealer Audio Advice has been busy lately.

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2024
Musical Fidelity AI
Stereophile

Musical Fidelity AI

In 1989, I bought my second pair of Rogers LS3/5a's from a guy on Staten Island who had them hooked up to a Musical Fidelity AI integrated amplifier.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Burmester 218
Stereophile

Burmester 218

As much as I tinkered with a little crystal radio as a child and started reading stereo magazines in high school, it wasn't until my early 30s that I half-stumbled into the higher end of the hi-fi sphere.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature
Stereophile

Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature

The \"Bowers\" in the name of British manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) refers to founder John Bowers, whom I got to know fairly well before he passed in 1987.

time-read
9 mins  |
October 2024
Hegel H400
Stereophile

Hegel H400

STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle
Stereophile

SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle

How many times have you been told by parents and teachers that everything successful must be built on a strong foundation?

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
RECOMMENDED RC2024 COMPONENTS
Stereophile

RECOMMENDED RC2024 COMPONENTS

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2024
Paging Dr. Löfgren
Stereophile

Paging Dr. Löfgren

It started one evening when I was killing time watching YouTube videos and stumbled across a 2017 talk given by Jonathan Carr, Lyra's brilliant cartridge designer.'

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Music among the Fairchildren
Stereophile

Music among the Fairchildren

Pull down the shades, find a comfortable seat, and come with me on an imaginary journey to the year 1956. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket wins reelection, the United Methodist Church begins to ordain women, and a can of Campbell's tomato soup costs 10 cents.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024