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Anyone ever bought an Ortofon high end m/c new?

colasblue

colasblue

pfm Member
I've just ordered a new Kontrapunkt-b from William Thackker.

(note to British retailers - business you could have done but haven't because your prices are uncompetitive! the Danes make money, the Germans make money and you get closer to bankruptcy).

My question is what am I likely to get in the box regarding mounting hardware, and in particular are there likely to be any plastic washers to protect the headshell?
 
colasblue said:
I've just ordered a new Kontrapunkt-b from William Thackker.

(note to British retailers - business you could have done but haven't because your prices are uncompetitive! the Danes make money, the Germans make money and you get closer to bankruptcy).

My question is what am I likely to get in the box regarding mounting hardware, and in particular are there likely to be any plastic washers to protect the headshell?
Click to expand...

2nd... Its shame that even with the low euro exchange rate its cheaper to buy hi-end Cartridges from Germany. Of course you buying from a major supplier who I suspect goes straight to Ortofon for his stock and leaves out a middle man agent. I suspect the current three tired model won''t last and either dealers will go straight to manufactures or dealers won't exist and we will go to the big on-line suppliers somewhere across the planet.
 
let's hope the middle men get the squeeze. The company I work for handles sales direct to our 400+ worldwide dealer network, no reason why a hifi company can't do the same if they got their arse in gear, sorted out their production pipeline and took pre-orders to help break the back of the process.
 
My question is what am I likely to get in the box regarding mounting hardware, and in particular are there likely to be any plastic washers to protect the headshell?
Click to expand...

Captive mounting screws of two different lengths, from memory, a little silver screwdriver, stylus cleaning brush and a set of headshell leads - I don't remember there being any plastic washers but it's been a few years since I bought it (and am no longer in possession of it to check). Very nice cartridge, by the way.
 
You get a brush, two mounting screws a small screwdriver. In the UK some carts have risen £200-300 in the last two years!
 
I agreee entirely. In this case the "problem" is Henley Designs, who also don't do Roksan many favours. How many dealers here have radius 5.2's with Nimas on at about £1200 to £1300 only to see the 5.1's leaking onto ebay at less than £600 a pop.

PMC are also very successful in ensuring that Bryston have virtually no UK presence.

But what I'd really like to know is whether I'm getting any plastic washers, to which it looks like the answer is probably not.
 
Mr Dappletoft is excellent to deal with and the kit is excellent quality and value. I have used various bits of the kit to mount Dl103,301,304, ZYX R50 and Ortofon OC9 to my rega based arm.
 
It amazes me how arrogant some sellers are out there who will not give any discount whatsoever. In these times that attitude is no good. I would not pay RRP for anything if I can, I know markup's are large.
However I have dealt with some dealer's who are more than willing to haggle a bit and offer great service so shop around and don't be afraid to ask.
 
That may be true but I'm really not interested in contacting a whole load of different dealers to find out what sort of "behind the bike sheds" deal they may be prepared to do.

In the modern world you need to get your best price into the public domain on the web, and if yours isn't the best one out there expect no business.

Strangely enough Mr Thakker has several slightly different prices on different parts of he web so I chose the cheapest one which seemed to come directly from his shop rather than ebay and involved Euros.
 
OC-9 GOD awful on a Linn.

Where do you get this nonsense?

The LP12 balances out the lean OC 9 beautifully.
 
RustyB said:
OC-9 GOD awful on a Linn.

Where do you get this nonsense?

The LP12 balances out the lean OC 9 beautifully.
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Personal taste. BORING. I gave it a great deal of time also to see if it would ever let go and get on with it. It never did in my case, even on a cirkus, lingo Ekos. The best fighting chance at time I do belive on a Linn.
 
Nice cartridge (I'm running one myself, for the next week or so anyway, until the Cadenza Blue shows up). I'm guessing he must have been hoarding them, as they were superceded by the Cadenza Blue a while back.
I've just found the fitting instructions, and there's no mention of plastic washers, but apparently three different lengths of screw.
 
Isn't the Kontrapunkt range discontinued and end of line, replaced by the Cadenza range?
Might explain why some are discounting it.
 
Yes but its been like that for a couple of years now. There seem to be supplies appearing every now and again and most dealers have it listed as available still.

Its the right balance of price & performance for the job, and its a safe bet since I know it will work OK on the Linn if the Orbe doesn't stay around.

I'll bet it isn't very much different to the Cadenza blue!
 
colasblue said:
I agreee entirely. In this case the "problem" is Henley Designs, who also don't do Roksan many favours. How many dealers here have radius 5.2's with Nimas on at about £1200 to £1300 only to see the 5.1's leaking onto ebay at less than £600 a pop.

PMC are also very successful in ensuring that Bryston have virtually no UK presence.

But what I'd really like to know is whether I'm getting any plastic washers, to which it looks like the answer is probably not.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't normally respond to this type of post but this is such a damning statement without any facts.

Thacker buys from the German distributor (not direct) and he, from time to time, gets deals and offers them on the net. We also do this with our dealers which is why you see products that we distribute on sale from time to time. On the whole, UK retailers prices are similar to these of most EU retailers.
The Roksan Radius 5.1 are old stock and are being sold, at a loss, with our blessing to clear a discontinued model - where's the problem?

There really is no conspiracy.

I'd be happy to discuss this but, please don't hide behind a forum.

Laurence Armstrong
Henley Designs.
 
Let's not also forget that Germany is a larger market than the Uk and as such the German distributor can very probably manage better deals from Ortofon than the UK distributor can. This comment is not to damn Henley, it's simply a fact of life that you can negotiate bigger discounts with larger orders. However that doesn't alter the fact that the UK is seen as 'treasure island' by distributors in many trades who add precious little value for their take.

I can only say the two times I've required service from henley they have earned every penny of their margin by not only being proactive and helpful but also because they actually hold the things they sell in stock for warranty- unlike some distributors we could mention in the trade. I know of no better spares service in the UK than Henley's.
 
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