Flexibility and performance with a range of compatibilities
Output impedance of 6 ohm and a low-to-medium output voltage of 0.2 mV make MC Anna a perfect partner for most MC phono preamps and step-up transformers, including the Ortofon ST-80 SE.
Ortofon’s MC Anna focuses on providing music in its entirety without compromise, offering an ideal balance of precision and musicality to provide an engaging experience on a whole new level.
With fine attention to both micro and macro dynamics combined with fluid tonality and texture, the MC Anna will shatter the boundaries of recorded music forever.
Considering Ortofon’s world-class knowledge in analogue sound reproduction, the new MC Anna will undoubtedly provide sound which is literally unsurpassed and simply has to be experienced.
Ortofon Replicant 100 - the finest diamond in the world
One of the preconditions for linear reproduction with a wide frequency range and optimal tracking performance is a diamond - the shape of which is as close as possible to the original cutting stylus.
As in the former the MC A90, MC Windfeld and Xpression, the MC Anna makes use of Ortofon’s Replicant 100 diamond, known for its thin and light profile and extraordinarily large contact surface.
When correctly aligned, the Replicant 100 will track even the most demanding groove modulations and will read musical information from the groove with a level of accuracy that is unparalleled by any other needle in existence.
Special polishing of the diamond along with the use of a Boron cantilever offer remarkable transparency, speed and responsiveness beyond that of any other combination.
Stylus lifetime
With proper care we find that up to 1000 hours is possible without degradation of performance. The stylus does begin to exhibit changes after 1.000 hours, but the stylus life as a whole is expected to top 2.000 hours.
Proper care comprises the following:
- Cleaning of record by means of the fibre brush before and after every use. Cleaning of record by using record cleaning machine once in a while.
- Cleaning of stylus by means of a fine antistatic brush. Please remember to remove dust from the diamond tip before and after playback of each record.
- Proper adjustment of antiskating, azimuth and tracking force.
Benefits of high-end materials and advancements in technology
The housing of the cartridge is made of Titanium, using our famed SLM manufacturing technique which was pioneered by Ortofon during the manufacturing of the MC A90, Xpression, SPU A90, MC A95 and SPU A95 phono cartridges.
Considered an engineering breakthrough, the Selective Laser Melting process welds fine particles of Titanium together, layer-by-layer, to construct a single piece body devoid of extraneous material. This technique allows for precise control of the density of the body material, allowing for extremely high internal damping. The final result provides freedom over vibrations within the cartridge body material.
The use of Titanium has provided a further improvement to the internal damping capabilities as well as to the overall rigidity of the structure.
Magnet System
Arguably one of the most significant advancements in the MC Anna is our dramatically higher efficiency magnet system developed by Ortofon.
This greatly optimized geometry combined with choice materials like neodymium and iron-cobalt offers an unprecedented consistency of the flux density within the system’s air gap. Due to an increase of active material inside of the magnet system, the magnetic field strength is delivered more uniformly, allowing each coil to sense identical flux density regardless of its position. Because of this, dynamics and impulse linearity are preserved to an overwhelming extent.
The use of this new optimized magnet system allows for the use of a lightweight, non-magnetic armature, which also provides noteworthy benefit to the dynamic capability of the MC Anna.
The reason for this is that our high-tech polymer-based armature does not alter the magnetic field during movement. Hence when combined with ultrapure oxygen-free copper coil wire, it delivers perfect reproduction of the cantilever movements without compromise.
Because the new magnet system delivers a tremendous magnetic flux density, the need for design compromises is effectively eliminated.
It is due to this aspect that the amount of coil windings required to achieve significant output voltages is reduced to a minimum, resulting in a further reduction in moving mass.
The new magnet system has also allowed for more spaciousness within the air gap, allowing for coil windings to be done completely independent of each other, without any overlap or interaction between them.
The cumulative result of these improvements simply delivers more lifelike reproduction, with nearly boundless imaging, dimensionality, and dynamics.
Enhanced damping capabilities
Finally, the MC Anna also introduces a new degree of control over vibrations by a way of a newly-improved Wide-Range armature Damping system (WRD). By extending the armature beyond the coils, it can interface directly with the rubber dampers, which sandwich a small heavy disc of platinum.
This offers more consistent movement, and thereby better stereo perspective and transient delineation.
System resonances are also damped by the use of TPE (Thermo Plastic Elastomer) compound which comprises the bottom cover assembly.
