Ortofon
Danish manufacturer of electronic audio equipment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ortofon A/S is a Danish manufacturer of electronic audio equipment. It is the world's largest producer of magnetic cartridges for phonograph turntables, with 500,000 cartridges sold annually.[1]
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| Industry | Audio equipment |
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| Founded | October 9, 1918 |
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| Headquarters | |
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Number of employees | 75 ±25  |
| Website | Official website |
History
1918-1945: Founding and sound film
Ortfon was founded in Copenhagen as the Electrical Phono Film Company on 9 October 1918 by Danish engineers Axel Petersen and Arnold Poulsen. Initially focusing on sound film technology, Petersen and Poulsen experimented with synchronizing sound with moving pictures on film.[2]
1946-present: Rebranding to Ortofon
Ortofon began to diversify into gramophone record playback and cutting equipment towards the end of World War II. In 1946, the company was renamed to FonoFilm Industry A/S. In April 1947, Ortofon A/S was founded as a trading company under the FonoFilm Industry A/S umbrella.
The firm pioneered the use of moving coil technology in phonograph equipment; the first cutting head based on this technology was introduced in 1945.[3] Ortofon's first moving coil magnetic cartridge, the AB model,[4] was launched in 1948, and similar variations of that product are still manufactured today due to demand from enthusiasts.[1] In 1959, the first Stereo Pick-Up SPU, which aimed at professionals, appeared.[5] This pick-up is produced in different versions until today, for example SPU Meister in 1992, SPU 95th Anniversary in 2015.[5] When Ortofon turned 80 years old, the MC Jubilee was introduced, marking the first time Ortofon used a metal housing manufactured with Metal injection molding.[5][6] In 2000, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the death of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, an MC-Series "Kontrapunkt" was presented. The models were named b, a, c, and h, wherein the b has a cantilever made of ruby.[7] For the frame of the housing stainless steel was used. Successor of these pickups became the Cadenza-series in 2009.[8] In 2019, a new cantilever appeared, the Anna Diamond, with a cantilever made of diamond.[9]
The first moving magnet-pickup M-15 was launched in 1969; here Ortofon used for the first time the patented Variable Magnetic Shunt (VMS) generating system which was offered until the 1980s.[10] In 1979, Ortofon presented the DJ-pickup Concorde in a new design.[5] In 2007 Ortofon introduced the moving magnet-series 2M. Its design resembles facets of a diamond and was created in collaboration with Moeller Jensen.[5][11] In 2018, the 2nd generation of the Concorde was released.[5]
DJs currently account for three-quarters of Ortofon's cartridge sales, the remainder being sold for audiophile and consumer audio use.[1] Low-cost Ortofon cartridges, such as the OM-5E, are often supplied as standard on budget-priced consumer turntables, including the Pro-Ject Debut range. The Ortofon OM series stylus assemblies are interchangeable, allowing users to easily mount a more expensive stylus on a cheaper cartridge.
The 2020 presented Revox Studiomaster T700 is delivered with a Quintet Bronze MC.[12]
Company since 2004
In 2004, the company was taken over by a group of private investors.[13]
Since 2010, Ortofon Microtech has manufactured custom-made high-precision TPE and Technical Rubber components and components for hearing aids.[14][15] In 2013, Ortofon Microtech was certified for ISO 13485.[5]
As recently as August 2024, an article in The Wall Street Journal called out Ortofon's cartridge as a key reason for recommending record players that include it.[16]
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