BEST TONEARM FOR HIGH COMPLIANCE MM


Dear 'gonners'

I have a lovely Pickering XSV 4000 MM cartridge. I understand this to be from the heyday of high compliance MM cartridges when the correct tonearm was lightweight etc.
As a result of this I have decided to have 2 arms on my turntable - one for this, and another for my Transfiguration Temper V
I already have a Moerch DP6 and am considering a light arm wand, but I was simply gonna use this for my Temper V.
Can someone recommend a tonearm from the heyday of light arms in the 70's that will be suitable - thanks
lohanimal
SME 3009 series III with detachable arm tubes,look for the later version with larger head shell and revised geometry.
A Grace 707 is good i had one on my Luxman PD121 You should be able to get one at a reasonable price as they are not very rare and underated.

I didnt use use it with the same cartridge as what you have though.

The Grace uses a reverse DIN cable connector and its mounting hole is quite narrow.

regards
Mick
I'll second the Black Widow recommendation, and add the SME 3009 III - those two are my favourite low-mass arms.

other optional arms I like are the Grace 707 and the Mission 774 LC, but the former toe are distinctly better.
The XSV4000 isn't really a high compliance cart. Cu should be similar to an Ortofon 2M. I'm not exactly sure what the Pickering is, but my Stanton 980 has the same VTF and cu is 20.

The Stanton tracks like a banchee on med/light arms and I doubt if you'll have a problem with a reasonable match. I like it on my Unitrac w/original wiring that works just fine, but it should be okay on an arm in the 11 or 12g range.

Back in the day high compliance carts were up to 50cu. IMO, with similar cart the Unitrac bests the other arms mentioned.
Regards,
Grace 707 is a fine arm for a high compliance cartridge. A step up from the Grace is the SME 3009/3012 line.