High compliance carts for low-mass tonearms

Hi chaps,

I'd like your ideas for carts suitable for low-mass linear trackers like my CA Tangent.

I'm currently using a Dynavector DV20X-H with it. It has a manufacturer's measured Cu of 12. Whilst everything sounds OK, the cart struggles with the Tangent, as it's clearly not designed for it. I want something optimal, rather than a compromise like the Dyna. Note that it finds tracking 45RPM discs particularly problematic.

If you're wondering why I use this cart, it's a legacy cart from my old deck (Project RPM9), and I simply haven't got round to changing it yet.

Also, please bear in mind that I'm using a valve phono stage (ARC PH5), so anything REALLY weak (i.e. <0.35mV) is going to be a no-no. Not really interested in buying a step-up at this point, but I may do so in future.

Current shortlist (£500-£1000)

Music Maker 3 - 4.5mV output, high Cu (25) but alledgedly fussy and very system-dependent.

Ortofon Rondo Bronze - 0.5mV output, rated Cu 15 but measured at 20 by HFW. E-mailed them to explain the discrepancy.

Grado Reference Master Wood - 4.5mV output, high Cu (20). Grado say it's designed for medium mass arms though...

Clearaudio Sigma - Cu of 15, yet Clearaudio say it's "ideal for use in our PT arms". What gets me is that their ultra-high end carts designed for use in the Master TQ-I arm also have a relatively low compliance of 15. Strange if you ask me....

VdH DDT 2 Special - .85mV output, high compliance of 28. Difficult to demo I guess - not many dealers around.

Not much else I can think of TBH. Pretty short shortlist! Help me out!

Rgds,

DT

 

Music maker classic with the siver coils. Its supposed to be fantastic. Len uses it on his air bearing arm. Retail is £1200.

I have just found one of Len's first music Makers using an AKG. I found it in my inlaws garage in Hastings. I stored a load of gear there when I moved a few years ago. I had forgotten all about it. I much prefered the AKG music maker to the later Grado versions. Len only stopped usig AKG when they stopped making the cartridge.

I havent listend to the Classic yet But I will do soon.

 

Well its not just the compliance that needs to be considered its the mass of the cartridge as well.

The resonance is dictated by compliance and the effective mass of the tonearm plus cart plus mounting hardware.

A 4g, 14cu cart will give very different results than a 10g 14cu cart in the same arm. So a heavier, lowish compliance cart will work fine on a lighter arm, so long as it's not so light it's tending toward floppy.

 

Interesting, thanks Anthony. I didn't think the issue was as black & white as I'd first described it.

So I can sacrifice some Cu, as long as it's compensated for by a higher cart wieght? In this case, would you say a 9-10g cart with a Cu of 14-16 is equal in tracking abilities to a 5-6g cart with a Cu of 20-22?

Is there a fixed ratio I can apply here?

DT

 

Go here:

http://www.cartridgedb.com/tools.asp

tap the figures into the resonance calculator and it will give you an answer. Ideal resonance is 10Hz, but the acceptable range is more like 8Hz to 12Hz. The closer to 10 though the better.

 

Very useful link Ant, I'll make sure to use that.

Incidentally, I've found an old thread of mine from when I first bought the deck that has some useful info about tracking issues.

Apparently, because the tangent's counterwieght sits far away from the pivot point, the arm will have a high effective mass, despite the sled assembly itself being very light. I suppose I could use the heavier counterweight nearer the pivot to reduce the effective mass somewhat?

Either way, I'm reticent to make any adjustments, because it's been such a chore getting a decent sound out of the arm. Might have a go next weekend if I'm really bored....

I do have the HFN test disc and will try running the resonance tracks first though.

Rgds

DT

 

What's been the issues setting the arm up? I'm interested in the idea of linear tracking arms so would like to hear people's experiences. Ta.

 

Well it is one of the variables often left out of the equation because it just complicates matters so much. The effective mass of an arm will change as you move the counterweight toward or way from the pivot, usually by not enough to worry about overly but I don't know ... it may have a bigger effect on a parallel tracker (its a much shorter arm after all). Its one reason why sprung loaded vtf adjustment (a la rb300 ) is a good thing albeit its a bad thing for other reasons.

I'd have though tracking ability is as much down to stylus profile and cart design as anything. Its not like any of the carts you are looking at are very low compliance.

If you want to ensure to get it spot on, Johnny at Audio Origami might be worth chatting with. He's been doing a fair bit of work doing mods (temporary I should add) to Rega arms to customise them for perfect resonance characteristics. Basically custom machining a counterweight for a particular cart to get eff mass approximately right and then using differing weights at the headshell to fine tune using a test record. He may have some insights.