Introduction
Ever wonderer what it would be
like to experience a product where no financial constraints have
been adhered to? Well step right up to the vaunted Ortofon Jubilee.
The undisputed World Heavy Weight Champion of all Moving Coil cartridges, and the object of lust for
many an Audiophile over the years.
I have to admit the calling
was too strong for me until one day I broke down in defeat and
ordered one to see what all the excitement was about. Needless to
say I had used many cartridges before this time from the B&O MMC20CL
& MMC6000 to Supex900's to Ortofon's own OM40 Super, MC10
Supreme and the full Kontrapunkt range. But nothing of
this reference caliber cartridge is available that does everything
so well and will suit most MC Phono Stages.
Ok, so it is a little bit expensive. Well some might
say, VERY EXPENSIVE! Costing just over $2,400.00 it is roughly the price of
two Rega P3 turntables. But what is the point in talking about cost
for an item that promises so much more in terms of performance. Does
the money really matter if it delivers what Ortofon claim it will? So
lets see if it delivers or if it's just a lot of hot air.
Firstly, unpacking the Jubilee
is a delight within itself for the acrylic cylinder that Ortofon
uses is of such an impressive design developed especially to protect this most valuable of
all cartridges,
care must be taken not to cause any unfortunate accidents. In other
words do not attempt to set up a Jubilee if you are in a rush to
pick up the kids. You will never forgive yourself for klutzing it up. The Jubilee comes
with new cartridge lead wires of excellent quality and a special
miniature jeweller's screwdriver provided for you to secure the cartridge to the
tonearm or headshell. Three sets of different sized gold bolts are
provided to lock the Jubilee into position as you do not use any
nuts in this configuration as the bolt thread go directly into the Jubilee's
deep chassis to make a very secure fixing point.
The Jubilee uses a 'Nude
Shibata' stylus and stainless steel & aluminum body. The Jubilee was
introduced as a showpiece by Ortofon to demonstrate to the world
what is possible when no manufacturing limits are required. This
masterpiece was designed to mark Ortofon's 80th birthday (first
established in Denmark in 1918).
I will not proceed to bore you
with endless techno babble surrounding this cartridge. That's not
what this review is about. For those interested please read the
Ortofon Jubilee PDF file. It is a misconception that you need to
have a $5K+ table to make full use of a cartridge this good. You
would be very surprised at the synergy that this simple combination
will give. I would rather spend more on a good MC cartridge then
more on the table and have a lower quality cartridge. Many more
giant killing reference phono systems have been built with Rega
P3/P3-24 tables and Ortofon MC cartridges than any other
combination.
Loading my newly acquired
Jubilee onto my Rega P7 turntable proved to be hassle free and all
that was required was one 2mm spacer for the Rega RB700 tonearm for
a correct VTA. I then proceeded to adjust the cartridge's alignment
and set the tracking weight for the recommended 2.3 grams. Not
forgetting to adjust the anti-skate the corresponding amount. The
time was nearly here to find out what this baby can do...
Sonic
Evaluations
After a warm-up period of 60
minutes I settled down to 'Ray Charles' - Friendship album (CBS
Records, 1984). For those who have never owned a Jubilee the sound
could be described as different to what ever you have heard before.
Gone was the compressed dynamics that I had been used to with
previous cartridges. Gone was
the brittle treble and monotonic bass too. The
Ortofon Jubilee painted an entirely different presentation even when
there was no sound to be heard. The noise floor was extremely low
and surface noise was non-existent. Instruments had a much wider
soundstage to work within, not confined to a limited range as
before.
I was a bit worried about the
dynamics because of the relatively low output from the Jubilee of
0.34mV but my Audio Research PH5 combined with the LS26
pre-amplifier gave more than enough gain to satisfy. As it turned
out this was a non issue. Critical to this cartridges excellent
performance potential is an equally excellent and worthy phono
stage. I would never suggest making such a considerable investment
as the Jubilee without ironing out this primary area first or you
will be in for a guaranteed disappointment. For those of you who
doubt this advise please read the following article:
'What's The
Most Neglected Component in a Phono System?'.
I am a listener who loves to
feel my music as much as hear it and I like to listen at levels that
would make many run for cover. If you are into feeling bass you will
love this cartridge. Never have I heard such punchy tight bass
played at these volume levels from an analogue rig before. The
Ortofon Jubilee is a tracking King to be sure. As Ray Charles &
Johnny Cash dished it out on 'Crazy Old Soldier' I could do nothing
by sit and marvel at the glorious midrange that seemingly hung in
mid air and had such drive and punch that you almost forgot you were
listening to a record. If this is what it takes to beat the pants of
SACD fellas, put me down for two. The dynamic range felt far
superior to SACD although technical specifications might suggest
otherwise. Not everything can be measured scientifically when it
comes to the five human senses.
The listening experience really is
so far removed for folks that mainly only listen to digital source
material you really should do yourself a favor and hear your vinyl
all over again the way it was intended. The differences in quality
cannot be denied after doing an A - B test from SACD to Vinyl. No
contest! You could say that I am happy
with my new Ortofon Jubilee and I would recommend one to anyone who
has a half way decent rig that is capable of doing justice to such a fine
example of precision engineering.
It great news that cartridges
are easily swapped between tables and tonearms and can easily be
moved to your next upgrade when the time comes. Enjoy the
performance of a top of the range MC cartridge now and worry about
the rest of your life's problems tomorrow. Just learn to take things
one step at a time and don't stress too much about things your
cannot control.
