The Pro-Ject Pick it MM 5 sits at the top of Pro-Ject’s Pick it MM cartridge range, representing a significant step up in refinement from the entry-level Pick it MM E. Manufactured in Europe by the phono cartridge specialists at Ortofon and carefully voiced by the design team at Pro-Ject Audio Systems, the Pick it MM 5 is designed to extract the maximum amount of musical information from your vinyl records.
Design and Construction
At the heart of the Pick it MM 5 is a nude elliptical stylus with a tip radius of 8/18 µm. Unlike bonded styli, which mount the diamond on a synthetic shank, a nude stylus is cut directly from a single piece of diamond. This results in a lower effective tip mass, allowing the stylus to track groove modulations with greater accuracy and to resolve micro-details that a lower-quality cartridge would miss.
The cartridge employs Ortofon’s well-known split pole pin technology. By dividing each pole pin into two, this technique achieves a notably flat frequency response that compares favourably with moving-coil (MC) designs, which typically have an inherent advantage in this area. The cantilever is derived from high-end DJ cantilever technology, providing a robust foundation that resists resonance while transmitting stylus movement faithfully to the generator.
Compatibility and Mounting
The Pick it MM 5 uses the universal half-inch (1/2 inch) mounting standard and features threaded holes, so it can be fitted without loose nuts. Its weight of 7.2 g and recommended tracking force of 1.8 g (within a range of 1.6–2 g) make it suitable for turntables equipped with low to medium effective-mass tonearms. A recommended load resistance of 47 kΩ and load capacitance of 150–300 pF are in line with the phono stage inputs found on the vast majority of integrated amplifiers and dedicated phono stages.
The stylus is available separately, making future replacement straightforward without the need to replace the entire cartridge body.
Performance
With an output voltage of 4 mV and channel separation of 25 dB at 1 kHz, the Pick it MM 5 delivers a wide, clearly defined stereo image. Vocals are separated convincingly from the surrounding soundstage, and individual instruments can be located precisely within the stereo field. The high trackability figure of 80 µm at 315 Hz confirms the cartridge’s ability to handle the complex, high-frequency groove modulations found on modern audiophile pressings without mistracking.