Reloop Vibe cart — feel it and hear it

Reloop taps into Orfoton's considerable cart skills, and brings out the Reloop Vibe — an elliptical stylussed (is the even a word?) Concorde cart for DJs.

Reloop’s long-standing partnership with Danish audio specialist Ortofon continues to bear fruit. After a steady succession of carts, The Reloop Vibe brings more of the same but at a higher level than before.

You know the score — their words, then ours:

RELOOP CONCORDE VIBE

Hear the VIBE.

Muenster, June 2017

Lars Jacobs, Director of Global Sales

„Three years ago, when the majority of DJ brands were still entirely focused on the DJ controller market, Reloop started a joint venture with Danish high-end audio specialist Ortofon in order to take the next step to become the first-choice DJ brand for turntablists worldwide.

Ever since three Concorde cartridges have been introduced by Reloop.

Concorde Vibe is the fourth and latest addition. It is a high-end cartridge in each aspect and its excellent sound characteristics make this cartridge unique and distinctive in the world of professional cartridges.

Concorde Vibe is made especially for heavy duty applications in a club environment.“

The Concorde VIBE is focused purely on achieving the highest possible sound quality from your records. The use of an elliptical stylus allows for maximum contact with the record groove, resulting in rich and detailed sound reproduction.

The high output level and flat frequency response makes this cartridge ideal for club and studio use. Wherever you are, Hear the VIBE.

Features

  • Direct SME mounting
  • Elliptical stylus
  • Focus on sound quality
  • Ideal sampling rate
  • High output level
  • Flat frequency response
  • Developed for Club and Studio environment
  • made by Ortofon

technical details

  • Frequency range: 20 Hz – 22 kHz
  • Ouput voltage (5cm/s): 8 mV
  • Tracking force range: 2 – 5 g
  • Recommended tracking force: 3 g
  • Weight: 18,5 g

Price:

119,- €

139,99,- US$

£ 105.00

Available now

Looking at the Ortofon specs, this appears to be closest to the Nightclub MKII, which is after all Ortofon’s only elliptical DJ stylus, although arguably much better looking.

For those not in the know, and ridiculously patronising those that are, there are broadly two types of stylus for DJs:

Spherical is the standard and sits higher in the groove with a single tangential point of contact. This reduces overall wear but delivers an arguably less detailed sound.

Elliptical has a greater contact area with the groove, which does deliver greater detail but can wear out vinyl quicker. This does depend on factors such as tracking and weight, but broadly speaking those are the differences. Of course, I await many essays denouncing my heathen broad strokes, but generally speaking this is the accepted mantra.

So should you wish for some of your own in black and orange (and who wouldn’t want such a colour scheme?), you can get them today for $139/€119/£105 each.

Mark Settle
Mark Settle

The old Editor of DJWORX - you can now find Mark at WORXLAB

Articles: 1228

13 Comments

    • Also at risk of patronising:
      If you have an straight, underhung (tee, hee) tonearm eg. straight Vestax tonearm, you should use sherical sherical stylus. Underhung means the tonearm is short and does not pass over the centre spindle as you move it in.
      Because of the tracking angle, an elliptical stylus will really dig into your vinyl which can cause accelerated wear/damage and your stereo image will be skewed. I think in the olden days audiophiles called this chiselling.
      Most overhung (passes over the spindle) straight hifi tonearms like in a Rega Planar are cool for elliptical. : D

      • Not patronizing at all. I couldn’t remember, tried Googling it, and I that would come up with the search terms I used was the audiophile arguments about one versus the other, and precisely why I asked. ^_^ I suspect I don’t have a Vestax tonearm though, since I’m running Stanton STR8-150’s (v1’s).

  1. “Frequency range: 20 Hz – 22 kHz”
    This number is meaningless without a +/- value and whether it’s a weighed value. It’s a little like those car speakers or tiny home hifi systems which boast 1000W output, it doesn’t really mean anything without the RMS value.

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