Ortofon
Encyclopedia
Ortofon is a Danish
manufacturer of electronic audio equipment
. It is the world's largest producer of magnetic cartridge
s for phonograph
turntables, with 500,000 cartridges sold annually.
The company was founded by engineers Arnold Poulsen and Axel Petersen in 1918. Initially focusing on sound film
technology,
Ortofon began to diversify into gramophone record
playback and cutting equipment towards the end of World War II
. The firm pioneered the use of moving coil technology in phonograph equipment; the first cutting head based on this technology was introduced in 1945. Ortofon's first moving coil magnetic cartridge, the AB model, was launched in 1948, and similar variations of that product are still manufactured today due to demand from enthusiasts.
DJs currently account for three-quarters of Ortofon's cartridge sales, the remainder being sold for audiophile
and consumer audio use. 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.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
manufacturer of electronic audio equipment
Audio equipment
A piece of audio equipment is any device designed principally to reproduce, record or process sound. This includes microphones, radio receivers, AV receivers, CD players, tape recorders, amplifiers, mixing consoles, effects units and loudspeakers....
. It is the world's largest producer of magnetic cartridge
Magnetic cartridge
A magnetic cartridge is a transducer used for the playback of gramophone records on a turntable or phonograph. It converts mechanical vibrational energy from a stylus riding in a spiral record groove into an electrical signal that is subsequently amplified and then converted back to sound by a...
s for phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
turntables, with 500,000 cartridges sold annually.
The company was founded by engineers Arnold Poulsen and Axel Petersen in 1918. Initially focusing on sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
technology,
Ortofon began to diversify into gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
playback and cutting equipment towards the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The firm pioneered the use of moving coil technology in phonograph equipment; the first cutting head based on this technology was introduced in 1945. Ortofon's first moving coil magnetic cartridge, the AB model, was launched in 1948, and similar variations of that product are still manufactured today due to demand from enthusiasts.
DJs currently account for three-quarters of Ortofon's cartridge sales, the remainder being sold for audiophile
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...
and consumer audio use. Low-cost Ortofon cartridges, such as the OM-5E, are often supplied as standard on budget-priced consumer turntables, including the Pro-Ject
Pro-Ject
Pro-Ject Audio Systems is a manufacturer of high-end audio equipment, founded in 1990 by Heinz Lichtenegger and located in Austria, with manufacturing plants in Czech Republic and Slovakia. It produces a range of audio equipment including a family of turntables, which are often quoted as reference...
Debut range. The Ortofon OM series stylus assemblies are interchangeable, allowing users to easily mount a more expensive stylus on a cheaper cartridge.