Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 Cartridge

The 2M Black LVB 250 is a special-edition flagship of Ortofon's 2M moving magnet series, released in December 2020 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. It builds on the standard 2M Black by swapping in a boron cantilever and Ortofon's Nano Tube suspension system, drawn from technology developed for the company's higher-tier moving coil cartridges.

Boron Cantilever and Nude Shibata Stylus

Where the regular 2M Black uses an aluminium cantilever, the LVB 250 fits a boron cantilever beneath its nude Shibata diamond stylus. Boron is exceptionally stiff and lightweight, which Ortofon credits with adding transparency, speed, and responsiveness to transient detail. The slim, highly polished profile of the Shibata stylus (r/R 6/50 µm) sits deep in the groove wall and tracks fine high-frequency information that wider profiles cannot reach.

Nano Tube Suspension

The cartridge uses a Nano Tube suspension system based on a rubber compound formulated with Multi-Wall Carbon Nano Tubes (MWCNT) as a nano filler. According to Ortofon, the new compound improves damping behaviour over the standard 2M Black suspension, contributing to the cartridge's tighter focus and more even frequency balance.

Beethoven 250 Livery

The LVB 250 retains the angular black 2M body, with white screen-printed branding showing the Beethoven silhouette and the LVB 250 designation on both side faces and the top. The cartridge is supplied as a 7.2 g body for standard half-inch mounting; a 16.7 g premounted version on Ortofon's LH-9000 headshell is also offered separately.

Compatibility

At 7.2 g and with a recommended tracking force of 1.6 g and dynamic lateral compliance of 22 µm/mN, the LVB 250 suits medium-mass tonearms found on the majority of contemporary turntables. Recommended phono stage loading is 47 kΩ resistance and 150 to 300 pF capacitance, the same values used across the 2M series.