The Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 is an upgraded version of the flagship 2M Black moving magnet cartridge, originally introduced in December 2020 to mark the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth. The Premounted variant ships installed on Ortofon's classic SH-4 headshell, ready to fit straight into a compatible standard mount tonearm.
Boron Cantilever and Nude Shibata Stylus
The LVB 250 upgrades the standard 2M Black with an extremely stiff and lightweight boron cantilever, which Ortofon states adds remarkable transparency, speed, and responsiveness. The cantilever carries a nude Shibata diamond stylus with r/R 6/50 µm tip dimensions; the slim, highly polished profile presents an exceedingly wide contact area to the groove walls, supporting detailed retrieval throughout the audible spectrum and into the highest frequencies.
Nano Tube Suspension
Sitting between the cantilever and generator is Ortofon's Nano Tube suspension system. This uses a proprietary rubber compound based on Multi Wall Carbon Nano Tubes (MWCNT) as a nano filler. The MWCNT-based formulation offers improved mechanical properties and better damping than conventional cartridge suspension elastomers.
Generator and Coil System
The 2M Black LVB 250 retains the quad-coil generator with split pole pins from the standard 2M Black series, paired with silver-plated OFC coil wire. The split pole pins help flatten frequency response from a moving magnet design, while the boron cantilever and Shibata stylus reduce moving mass for sharper transients.
Premounted on SH-4 Headshell
This version arrives factory mounted on the Ortofon SH-4 headshell in black. The headshell follows the standard half-inch mount with bayonet-style fitting, and the premounted assembly weighs 16.7 g, suitable for medium and medium-mass tonearms. The cartridge tracks at a recommended 1.6 g, with a usable range of 1.5 to 1.7 g, and presents a dynamic lateral compliance of 22 µm/mN.
Loading and System Matching
The 2M Black LVB 250 is designed for a 47 kΩ load with 150 to 300 pF total capacitance, which suits the great majority of moving magnet phono stages. Output is 5 mV at 1 kHz (5 cm/s), again standard for the 2M moving magnet range.