Ortofon

Why it is renowned

StereoNET calls Ortofon a world leader in phono cartridges for nearly eighty years, and writes that by the late 1970s it was practically a household name in Western countries for its moving-magnet designs.¹ In 2003 it was the largest maker of magnetic phono cartridges in the world, with about 500,000 a year, three quarters of its sales going to DJs.² Other turntable makers work with it: Pro-Ject developed the cartridge of its Debut EVO 2 with Ortofon.³

Recognition

• StereoNET¹2025A world leader in phono cartridges

The story

The engineers Axel Petersen and Arnold Poulsen founded the Electrical Phono Film Company in Copenhagen on 9 October 1918 to record sound on film, and their system was licensed across Europe and used by American studios in the 1920s.⁴ From 1945 the company made cutter heads for record makers, taken up by companies all over the world, and in 1948 it introduced the first moving-coil cartridge.⁴ Ortofon A/S was founded in 1947; the name comes from the Greek for "correct sound".⁴ The SPU stereo cartridge followed in 1959, the M-15 moving-magnet cartridge in 1969.⁴ Its factory is in Nakskov, Denmark.⁵

What to know it by

• SPU⁴1959Stereo moving-coil cartridge
• Concorde²1979DJ cartridge
• OM series²1981Cartridge with interchangeable styli
• 2M²2007Moving-magnet cartridge series