Ortofon Concorde Club MKII DJ Cartridge

Ortofon Concorde MKII Club — Top-of-Line Sound Quality for Club DJs

The Ortofon Concorde MKII Club is the flagship sound-quality model in this DJ cartridge line, built for club, studio, and broadcast use. It pairs a Special Elliptical diamond stylus with an aluminium cantilever to extract more groove detail than spherical designs. At 8 mV output, preamp gain stays low, reducing feedback risk in loud rooms. The cartridge is also recommended for digitalizing vinyl because it pulls every last detail from the source material.

What Sets the Concorde MKII Club Apart

This is the only Concorde MKII cartridge with an elliptical stylus. Ortofon's Special Elliptical geometry is rounded enough to survive back-cueing and scratching, unlike fragile hi-fi elliptical tips. Output sits between the Mix/DJ models and the Scratch/Digital models, giving a louder signal than the entry-level pair without the brightness of the timecode-optimized Digital. The result is a cartridge that prioritizes fidelity over ruggedness while still holding up to real DJ use.

Stylus Geometry and Tracking Performance

Tracking ability is 100 μm at 315 Hz with 14 μm/m N dynamic lateral compliance, so the cantilever follows the groove under back-cue pressure. Recommended tracking force is 3 g, with a usable range of 2–4 g. The Special Elliptical diamond with r/R 13/25 μm tip radius sits deeper in the groove wall than a spherical stylus, recovering more high-frequency detail from well-recorded vinyl.

• Stylus Type: Special Elliptical diamond — recovers more high-frequency detail than spherical designs
• Tracking Ability: 100 μm at 315 Hz
• Tracking Force: 3 g (2–4 g range)

Output Voltage and Electrical Specs

An 8 mV output at 1 kHz, 5 cm/sec drives typical DJ mixer phono stages without pushing preamp gain. Channel separation is 25 dB at 1 kHz and channel balance is 1 dB, so stereo imaging stays clean across the frequency range. Ortofon recommends a 47 kOhm load resistance with 200–600 pF load capacitance for standard phono preamps.

• Output Voltage: 8 mV — high enough to keep preamp gain low
• Channel Separation: 25 dB at 1 kHz
• Recommended Load: 47 kOhm

Cartridge Body, Weight, and Mounting

Body weight is 18.5 g, balancing well on most straight and S-shaped DJ tonearms. The Concorde MKII housing mounts directly on bayonet-style headshells and standard SME connectors without tools or screws. Replacement stylus is the Stylus CC MKII Club, so users can renew the tip without replacing the whole cartridge.

• Cartridge Weight: 18.5 g
• Mounting: Bayonet / SME — tool-free swap between turntables
• Replacement Stylus: Stylus CC MKII Club