Home
AudioAsylum Trader
General Asylum: REVIEW: Ortofon Kontrapunkt h Phono Cartridge by DevillEars

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

For Sale Ads

FAQ / News / Events

 

REVIEW: Ortofon Kontrapunkt h Phono Cartridge

198.54.202.246


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread:  [ Display   All   Email ] [ General Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Model: Kontrapunkt h
Category: Phono Cartridge
Suggested Retail Price: $1000
Description: MC carridge
Manufacturer URL: Ortofon
Model Picture: View

Review by DevillEars on August 30, 2009 at 12:43:19
IP Address: 198.54.202.246
Add Your Review
for the Kontrapunkt h


Hi All,

This cartridge arrived, not as the culmination of a planned acquisition, but as the result of a clumsy accident that saw its predecessor shuffle off this mortal (moving) coil when the LP12 was dropped by yours truly. Yes, that's right, dropped - from a height of about 12 inches onto a work-surface with one hand (not mine) making a futile attempt to catch it.

The previous cartridge was also an Ortofon Kontrapunkt - the 'a' variant - that I'd picked up with 20 hours usage for around 35% of the asking price as a replacement for another Ortofon (Rondo Red).

When the LP12 hit, the Ittok arm popped free from the arm clamp and must have smacked down really hard, as the stylus guard was fitted (and was still there after the dust settled), but the cantilever had been bent.

The local Ortofon dealer was contacted and the situation explained - with a request to supply another 'a'. Ortofon offer a rebate for returned cartridge bodies, so we arrived at what seemed to be a good deal which combined both the rebate and a discount. On arrival, he had brought the 'h' and not the 'a', saying that he had an offer I would not be able to understand. He was right - I didn't need to understand the offer - just accept it!

So, the dealer first set about checking out the LP12 after the drop (it turned out to be fine - just the counterweight had moved), before installing the Kontrapunkt 'h'.



The Ortofon Kontrapunkt 'h' and 'a' are virtually identical apart from the colour of the plastic body section between the stainless steel sideplates - the 'a' being black and the 'h' being 'violet'.



Both share the same cantilever/stylus but the 'h' incorporates some refinements to the generator which increase the output from 0.45mV to 0.47mV and add "refinement to the frequency extremes" (Ortofon-speak).

So, what we have here is a migration over a 10-month period from one Ortofon cartridge to another and then to yet another. So, it might be worthwhile to start at the beginning and revisit the reasons for wanting to move from the Rondo Red to the Kontrapunkt 'a'.

The Rondo Red was rather susceptible to surface scratches and reproduced these all too faithfully - too much so for my liking. It also tended to be a bit congested at the frequency extremes - with a bass that lacked coherence and control and with a muddled treble.

The Kontrapunkt 'a' went quite a way toward addressing these problems - and, lacking a yardstick, I was really none the wiser.

With the arrival and installation of the 'h', I set aside some quality time to get to grips with this new cartridge and made some notes along the way, so this review will cover the first 28 hours of usage up until 30 minutes ago.


ORTOFON KONTRAPUNKT 'H'



The Kontrapunkt cartridges all share the same recommended tracking weight (2.5gm) and resistive loading (100 ohms) - although Ortofon do mention that the sonic signature can be 'tuned' by adjusting the loading.

I started out "feeding" this creature with some energetic music - Bob James, Roy Orbison, Travelling Wilburys, etc. to give it some exercise (as had been recommended by the dealer/installer).

Immediately after installation and with zero hours on the clock, the initial impression was that the sound was a bit on the bright side and that the soundstage was compressed in both width and depth. Having said that, there was an element of "I like the way this sounds" in what I was hearing.

The main audio system has very good resolving capabilities and can unravel complex musical structures and reproduce them with great musical coherence - retaining the musical "whole". In addition, the overall noise floor is very low, so this resolution also applied to low level detail which provided excellent spatial cue reproduction in areas such as imaging and soundstaging.

This had been very apparent using the Theta CD front-end, but had been decidedly lacking on vinyl using the Rondo Red and was still not quite there with the Kontrapunkt 'a', with the result that the system usage was split roughly 50:50 between CD and vinyl.

As the hours of usage grew, I began to notice subtle changes in the overall sound of vinyl-sourced music.

The first "casualty" was the initial "brightness" which started to disappear after 8 hours. At this stage, playing the DGG re-release (on 180gm) of "Carmina Burana", tracks 21 and 22 sounded musical but still spatially constrained.

Fast forward to 16 hours and the first signs of opening up of the soundstage became evident - some depth and a widening of the lateral stage. This was noted when playing Bob James' "Obsession" - a recording well endowed with spatial cues. At this stage, I fed the creature from Denmark a fairly varied diet - some Enya, some Toni Childs, some Hubert Laws (all LPs that are > 10 years old) plus some recent direct-to-disk recordings (Jeton and Stockfisch labels).

Fast forward again to around the 24 hour mark and virtually all constraints in soundstaging had vanished - taking with them the last vestiges of brightness.

Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, I was a great Windham Hill fan and still have a number of WH LPs that are in reasonable nick, so decided to revisit a few of these:

The WH Sampler '88 included a track by Schonherz & Scott entitled "Wishing Well", which combines synthesizers with synth-drums and percussion and incorporates some really deep bass (synth drum) combined a rather busy top-end (percussion). I have used this album and this track in particular as a system yardstick for years and this was the first time I'd ever heard it unravelled and portrayed as a "musical whole" (most times it remained cluttered).

Another WH album by Iain Matthews (of Matthews Southern Comfort fame) is called "Walking a Changing Line" and features Iain in an a capella rendition of Jules Shear's "On Squirrel Hill" with some low-level "atmospherics" added. The background was vaguely apparent on the 'a' but was both clear and integrated on the 'h'.

Sara K's "Water Falls" (direct-to-disk on Stockfisch label) is a particular favourite of mine and side 3 starts with "Step On Mine", which has to be one of my all-time favourite tracks. I was gobsmacked when I played this at about 5pm today - absolutely gorgeous.

On to another Stockfisch album - David Roth's "Pearl Diver" and the title track - which I've always enjoyed for its combination of great lyrics and a very appealing tune, sounded like I'd never heard it before.

Back to "Carmina Burana" and it was all there - Gudrun Janofski's soprano voice was clear as a bell and twice as beautiful (track 21) and the following track, which features cameo performances by various voice categories, was well laid-out across the stage and the percussion positioned well to the rear.

Next, Jim Hall's "Concierto" (which features Paul Desmond and Chet Baker) and the title track - 19 minutes of respectful jazz treatment of Rodrigo's work - was everything I'd previously been looking for - beautifully assembled from clear and distinct performers that jelled perfectly into a "whole".

"Waltz for Debbie" by the Bill Evans Trio comes close to (maybe even surpasses) "Jazz at the Pawnshop" as the definitive live jazz album and, with the 'h' sitting at ~26 hours, it sounded better than I remember ever hearing.

At 27 hours, out came Sarah McLachlan's "Afterglow", in particular, the track entited "Answer" (which was used in the OST for Jodie Foster's "The Brace One"). Sarah's "breath-ey" voice was spot-on - purr-fect!

The last album to be played was the Bob James "Obsession" to do a last minute check on the spatial aspects. At ~28 hours, the soundstage extended just beyond the speakers in the lateral plane and there was clearly defined depth (not excessive, but there) and some sense of height (just discernible).

From a sonic perspective, I am very happy with this cartridge - it can unravel the most complex passages and reconstruct a coherent and very musical "picture" while also repeating this at low levels, that helps create clear and stable images in a wide and deep soundstage. While doing this, it makes gorgeous music.

From a practical day-to-day usage perspective:



:the angled cutaway on the lower front of the cartridge body exposes the cantilever to view to make cueing this cartridge an absolute piece of cake.

One final observation is that this cartridge works in the system outlined below - it might not work in every system, so auditioning (if possible) is advised.

Verdict: I love it!


Product Weakness: Tracking mass a wee bit on the high side at 2.5gm<br>Not cheap if bought at retail list price
Product Strengths: Musicality<br>Detail retrieval and portrayal while maintaining the "whole"<br>Ease of cueing<br>Not that expensive (if you have a kind dealer and an old body to trade in)


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Jeff Rowland Model 201
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Classe' CP-500 (with Classe' add-on dual-mono phono stage
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Linn LP12/Cirkus/Hercules II/Ittok LVII
Speakers: Tannoy D700
Cables/Interconnects: PS Audio Transcendant (i/c) & Resolution Reference Bi-Wire (spkr)
Music Used (Genre/Selections): See text of review
Room Size (LxWxH): 4.5m x 4.5m x 2m
Room Comments/Treatments: Soft furnishings, carpet
Time Period/Length of Audition: 7 days (from purchase)
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): PS Audio Quintet & Statement SC cords
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  The Cable Cooker  



Topic - REVIEW: Ortofon Kontrapunkt h Phono Cartridge - DevillEars 12:43:18 08/30/09 ( 7)