Ortofon 20E (ca. 1974–1975)
Little is documented about the Ortofon 20E outside a handful of period reviews, but the surviving record is enough to place it. This was the Ortofon VMS-20E, a moderately priced stereo phono pickup with an elliptical diamond stylus. It first turns up in a new-products item in HiFI-Stereo (December 1974, p.22). That item described the VMS principle - an armature attached to the stylus cantilever moving through a magnet's field - and listed a vertical tracking angle of 20 degrees and a vertical compliance of 30×10⁻⁶ cm/dyne.
High Fidelity (September 1975, p.40) reviewed it at a U.S. price of $65, with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty and Danish manufacture. The review's measurements put the left channel within ½ dB from 20 Hz to 10 kHz, and +7½/ - ½ dB over the full 20 Hz - 20 kHz range. The right channel came in at roughly +1¼/ - ¾ dB. HiFI-Stereo (February 1975, p.42) published its own frequency-response graph for the VMS-20E.
Beyond those appearances, the paper trail is thin. No service manual, production-run figures or sales literature has surfaced in the usual archives. High Fidelity later covered the related M-20FL Super (February 1978, p.43), a $100 version with a Fine-Line stylus, but that is a distinct model and not the 20E.
Known specs from period reviews:
- Stereo phono cartridge, VMS design, elliptical diamond stylus
- U.S. price: $65 (1975)
- Vertical tracking angle: 20°; vertical compliance: 30×10⁻⁶ cm/dyne
- Measured frequency response (High Fidelity, Sept 1975): left channel ±½ dB, 20 Hz–10 kHz; +7½/–½ dB, 20 Hz–20 kHz
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