Ortofon MC Century Catalog

MC Century Moving Coil Cartridges

Exclusive anniversary model

Ortofon celebrates 100 year anniversary with the company’s most ambitious cartridge ever.

MC Century Moving Coil Cartridges

The MC Century represents the absolute top
of Moving Coil cartridges. This state of the art
product is truly exemplary of the highest degree of
performance possible in contemporary analogue
playback technology.

The MC Century represents numerous Ortofon design
elements and ideals:

- The housing and the body of the cartridge are made in Titanium
with SLM technique. The Selective Laser Melting technique was
pioneered by Ortofon for manufacturing of the MC A90 and the
SPU A90 cartridges.

- The magnet system is heavily based on that used in the MC Anna
cartridge. High performance iron-cobalt alloy is applied for some
parts of the magnet system.

- The armature damping system provides complete elimination of
unwanted resonance.

- Ortofon Replicant 100 diamond, thin and light, with an
extraordinarily large contact surface, tracing accuracy
unparalleled by any other needle in existence.

- The crystal structure and exceptional hardness of the new
Diamond cantilever ensures the best possible interface between
the stylus and the armature.

Benefits of high-end materials

An engineering feature adding to the damping capability of the
MC Century cartridge is the Selective Laser Melting process in
which fine particles of Titanium are welded together, layer-by-layer,
to construct a single piece body devoid of unnecessary material.
Using this technique the density of the body can be precisely
controlled, allowing for extremely high internal damping. The
final result provides absolute freedom from resonances existing
in the cartridge body material and allows for the MC Century to
be perfectly matched with an extremely wide array of different
tonearms. Because of the nature of SLM-based construction, each
cartridge body is cosmetically unique and will show small dimples
or lines under close examination.

The optimized geometry of the high efficiency magnet system
combined with choice of 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

In a very limited edition of 100, Ortofon released
its no-expense-spared anniversary model –
the MC Century.

Only the year before, Leif Johannsen, Chief Acoustics and
the Head of R&D, had designed an updated version of the
cartridge made as a tribute to Ortofon’s chief engineer called
the MC Windfeld TI. “We want all our exclusive cartridges to
have a body made by Additive Manufacturing. We did not

regardless of its position. Because of this, dynamics and impulse
linearity are preserved to an overwhelming extent.

Using expensive ultrapure oxygen free copper allows for zero-loss
transmission of the diamonds movements via Diamond cantilever.
This configuration combines low moving mass with an extremely
high degree of rigidity.

The specially designed precision moulded non-magnetic armature
achieves an extreme precision in each coil turn in all layers.
The armature design allows a very well-defined interface to the
rubber absorbers. The material applied for the armature has very
high strength and rigidity.

The bottom cover has been constructed from a special proprietary
TPE (Thermo-Plastic Elastomer) material, which provides extremely
high damping.

Increase in dynamics, resolution and richness in details

The MC Century also uses 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.

do that for the original Windfeld. The Ti stands for Titanium
because, in the latest Windfeld cartridge, the central frame
which carries the cartridge is made out of titanium. We had
also used that metal for the MC A95 and MC Anna. We try
to reuse the good stuff. A good idea is not just confined to
one cartridge, so the MC Century also has a titanium housing
made by SLM. One of the most striking things about it, which
has a big impact on the sound, is its cantilever. We’ve used
diamond for this. The sound is extreme! It is really high-end.”

As in the Exclusives series cartridges, the MC Century makes use
of Ortofon’s Replicant 100 diamond, known for its thin and light
profile and extraordinarily large contact surface.

Since the Replicant 100 is closest to the shape of the cutting
stylus, it can trace with accuracy unparalleled by any other needle
in existence. Special polishing of the diamond along with the use
of a Diamond cantilever offer extremely transparency, speed, and
responsiveness beyond that of any other combination.

Flexibility and performance with a range of compatibility

Output impedance of 6 Ohm and a low to medium output voltage
of 0.2 mV make the MC Century a perfect partner for most
phono preamps and step-up transformers, including the Ortofon
ST- 80 SE.

When combined with Ortofon’s
world-class knowledge in
analogue sound reproduction,
the new MC Century will
undoubtedly provide sound
which is literally unsurpassed
and simply has to be
experienced.