Ortofon Concord Scratch MK2 Great for the Vinyl DJ

0:00 Maybe you are or you're not a DJ who is into vinyl

Right, let's talk styli. Now maybe you are or you're not a DJ who is into vinyl. Maybe you want to become a vinyl DJ. Now the styli we're looking at is from Autophon. It's the Autophon Concord Scratch Mark II. Big thanks to GetInTheMix.com for letting me use these in the video. So why have the likes of a Concord cartridge? Well first of all there's no setting up. You don't have to like a cartridge, a head shell should I say, set up the cartridge on the head shell then make sure that's in the correct position. With likes of Concord cartridges all you've got to do is plug it in to the arm of your turntable and everything is set. Now, the Scratch Mark II are spherical. They actually have spherical styli at the bottom. So what does that mean? Now let me show you a quick picture.

1:43 Likes elliptical

Right, so hopefully you can see that. I don't want to start moving the camera about, but here we have spherical and here we have elliptical. Now elliptical, a way of describing that, if you imagine an arrowhead, so the needle on the stylus is like an arrowhead and then let's say the shape of the groove which is in blue What is the groove of the record? Well, the arrowhead is going to fit more snugly inside the groove. Whereas spherical, you have less of the needle itself inside the groove. Now there are advantages and disadvantages for both of them. First of all, the advantages of the likes of elliptical is that you get improved frequency, you will maybe get a better sound, improved phasing and so on. The disadvantage of the likes of elliptical is if you can see here more of the needle itself, the diamond, is attached and is rubbing against the vinyl.

3:06 The needle touches the vinyl and plays it

So over time, you will start to wear out the vinyl more if, this is the if, you are a scratch turntablist. On the other hand, the reason I have these styli here is because these are far better, the spherical styli for the likes of scratch turntablists, because there is less of the diamond touching your vinyl. Now also, One of the great features of stylo like this is they're great for spinning back. So if I, without trying to cause any problems with YouTube about playing copyrighted music, if I go to a part of the track where there's just a beat, let's have a listen. There. What I'm going to do now is a spin back. Okay, the needle, the stylo is not jumping out. Also, if you think about it, when that needle is moving on the vinyl like that, every single time...

The needle touches the vinyl and plays it. It is wearing away a fraction of the vinyl, I mean minuscule amounts, but of course if I was to play that vinyl say a thousand times and I had a brand new vinyl and the one that I played a thousand times, identical copies, I'm pretty sure you would hear a slight difference between the two. But more so if I start doing this. And this is what scratch turntablists do. They will move the vinyl backwards and forwards all the time, therefore causing even more damage over time to the vinyl. So that you must think about. Now also, the likes of the Mark II are great for... Turntablists who are, say, using virtual vinyl as well. Alright, now this is a quick insight into the Autofon Scratch Mark II. If you want any more information on this, don't hesitate. There will be a link in the description. Thank you very much for watching. Practice and enjoy.

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