Magnet system and Damping

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 Anna and SPU A95 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

Neodymium magnet and FSE

The magnet system is based on an extremely strong, compact neodymium magnet, which makes the generator system both compact and lighter through its minimal dimensions.

Inspired by the elements of MC Anna design, the MC A95 makes use of a specially designed armature comprised of a metal alloy which is much less magnetic than normal iron. This provides noteworthy benefit to the dynamic capabilities of the cartridge. The reason for this is that our high-tech armature has almost no influence on the magnetic field during movement. Hence when combined with the Aucurum coils of gold-plated 6NX oxygen free copper, it delivers perfect reproduction of the cantilever movements without compromise.  Any trace of remaining magnetic influences that would create distortion is prevented by the use of a Field Stabilizing Element (FSE).

Ortofon’s FSE, a small cylinder of conductive material strategically placed inside the magnet system, guarantees that the force field remains stable regardless of the movement of the armature. FSE improves the channel separation, while at the same time minimizing dynamic distortion and intermodulation.



The result: fantastic dynamics and even more elbow room between the musicians. You simply experience more drama and greater breadth, height and depth in the sound scenario.

Enhanced damping capabilities

Adding to the list of important components is Ortofon’s Wide Range Damping (WRD) system.

In this system, a small, heavy platinum disc is sandwiched between two rubber absorbers, both with different properties. This ensures not only an exceptional tracking performance, but also creates a perfect damping through the entire frequency spectrum. Because of this, distortion and resonance are virtually eliminated entirely.

The WRD system, which was originally introduced in the MC 20 Mk II in 1979 and was also used in the MC A90, MC Windfeld, Xpression and MC Anna phono cartridges, is one significant reason why the MC A95, while achieving the most linear frequency response and the highest upper frequency limit ever, at the same time tracks a fantastic 90 μm at a vertical tracking force of 2.3 grams.

Extremely high-end materials benefit new coil technology

Using Ortofon’s Aucurum coils of gold-plated, 6NX oxygen free copper allows for zero-loss transmission of the diamond’s movements via its boron cantilever.

 This combination, which has also been employed for use in the MC Windfeld and MC A90 cartridges, combines low moving mass with an extremely high degree of rigidity.

A specially designed armature is used to achieve extreme precision in each coil turn in all layers. This enables the MC A95 to achieve a higher degree of channel separation, while simultaneously offering lower distortion and better channel balance. The armature is made in a metal alloy which is much less magnetic than normal iron, which boosts the dynamic capability of the cartridge.

Coil wire protection has been constructed from our special high damping proprietary TPE (Thermo-Plastic Elastomer) material, which enhances the total damping properties of the cartridge.

Learn more:

Improving on perfection

The finest diamond in the world

Set-up and maintenance

Stylus care

Technical data

Download the MC A95 userguide

Download the MC A95 brochure