Ortofon
Ortofon Cadenza Black
Ortofon Cadenza Black
Available to Order
Ortofon Cadenza Black
The Cadenza Black uses a Nude Shibata stylus with a boron cantilever, and is optimised for tonal neutrality, dynamics, and purity of sound. It is high performing on areas like detail, consistency and sound staging.
Nude Shibata Stylus
On complex, densely recorded material, it retrieves information that a less capable stylus geometry simply cannot access.
Boron Cantilever
The cantilever is a very thin boron rod. Boron is stiffer than aluminium and significantly lighter, which keeps the effective mass of the stylus and cantilever system extremely low. Lower moving mass means faster, more accurate response to groove modulations — the cantilever does not add its own character to what the stylus reads. This is fundamental to the Cadenza Black's ability to handle transients and fine detail without colouration.
Wide Range Damping
The Cadenza Black incorporates Ortofon's WRD — Wide Range Damping system — which controls high and low frequency damping separately. Where a conventional damping arrangement makes a single compromise across the bandwidth, WRD allows each region to be tuned independently, contributing directly to the cartridge's tonal neutrality and tracking stability.
Aucurum Coil Wire
The coils are wound with Aucurum wire — Ortofon's gold-plated 6NX copper — chosen for its conductivity and low resistance.
Technical Specifications
| Output voltage at 1 kHz, 5 cm/sec | 330 μV |
| Channel balance at 1 kHz | < 0.8 dB |
| Channel separation at 1 kHz | > 27 dB |
| Channel separation at 15 kHz | > 20 dB |
| Tracking ability at 315 Hz | 90 μm |
| Compliance, dynamic, lateral | 16 μm/mN |
| Stylus type | Nude Shibata diamond |
| Cantilever | Boron |
| Stylus tip radius | r/R 6/50 |
| Tracking force range | 2.0–2.5 g |
| Tracking force, recommended | 2.3 g |
| Tracking angle | 20° |
| Internal impedance, DC resistance | 5 Ohm |
| Recommended load impedance | > 10 Ohm |
| Coil wire material | Aucurum Coil Wire |
| Cartridge body material | Aluminium / Stainless steel |
| Cartridge colour | Black/Black |
| Cartridge weight | 10.7 g |
Who Is It For?
The Cadenza Black is for the serious analogue listener who has a turntable and tonearm capable of doing it justice — and who wants the best Ortofon offers at this level before stepping into the Windfeld or MC Diamond. If you are running a high-quality arm and MC-capable phono stage and want a cartridge that does not impose its own character on the recording, this is a logical and rewarding choice. It is also worth comparing directly with the Ortofon Cadenza Bronze to understand what the Shibata stylus adds over the Replicant 100 — the two cartridges have a genuinely different character, and hearing them side by side is informative.
Buying from Martins Hi-Fi
Martins Hi-Fi has been in Norwich since 1968. Elizabeth Gould runs the business today, and we stock only brands we have heard properly and stand behind.
We carry the full Ortofon Cadenza range — including the Cadenza Red, Cadenza Blue, and Ortofon Cadenza Bronze — and you are welcome to discuss any of them in the context of your turntable and system at our Norwich showroom. If you are considering the step up to the Ortofon Windfeld Ti or Ortofon MC Diamond, we can talk through where the meaningful differences lie.
When you get in touch, you'll be speaking with Dave and Chris — experienced specialists who can advise on this product and your whole system.
Contact us at info@martinshifi.co.uk, call 01603 627010, or WhatsApp on 07554 687137. You can read more about how we work on our Why Martins Hi-Fi page. We are at 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY.
