High Compliance Cartridge With Low/Med Mass Tone Arm


I am using an Art 9xi with a SL 1200G turntable.
Dyn Compliance on the cartridge is 25 after converting from 
the Japanese standard. Tonearm mass with stock headshell is 12 grams.
The stock headshell is the lightest I can find.

Using the Vinyl Engine Cartridge Resonance Evaluator, the 
resonant frequency comes in at the middle of the 7Hz yellow area.

I know this is not Ideal.
Question: what should I be listening for to determine if this is not 
a good match? What negative sound characteristics would be
apparent? 

Thanks for any input.  

 

 

 

ericsch

7Hz is very close to the generally accepted range, 8 to 12Hz. Given the fact that you really don’t know the exact effective mass or the exact compliance of your particular samples, odds are that you are either slightly below the accepted  range or slightly within the excepted range. I would absolutely pay no attention to this issue. Just listen to music. You’re almost certain to be fine.

Lewm, I was hoping you'd respond. The tonearm mass is verified at 12 gr. For the cartridge I used the 1.7 multiplier to convert from Japanese spec.

ericsch

Question: what should I be listening for to determine if this is not 
a good match?

You can listen for LF distortion and observe the woofer cones for extraneous movement.

That calculator can be incorrect because there is a lot of variance involved. It is always best to measure the resonance frequency directly with a test record. As @lewm suggests 7 Hz is not all that bad. It is better to be lower than higher. If your cartridge is tracking well and tolerates warps OK then you are fine and I would not worry about it. As the resonance frequency gets too low warps can send the tonearm airborne. 

Dear @ericsch  : You don't have to worry about, are safe down there.

 

In the other side the tonearm effective mass spec is only that but you or any one else know the tonearm counterweigth position when Technics achieve those 12grs and the compliance never is exactly as those numbers said.

 

You already made your job that confirms you are ok, no problem between that tonearm/cartridge combination. So, stay calm.

Only as an example about: the Ortofon MC 2000 LOMC cartridge was measured under review with around 35 cu and its weigth is 11 grs. and was mounted in the Technics SP10 MK2 and top Technics tonearm and the measured resonance frequency beteen the cartridge/tonearm was around 5hz and wonder what?:

that combination had no single issue to track with  excellent quality performance the Telarc 1812 LP and other tortuose tests LP. 

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

What Raul said was also my point. The manufacturer of the cartridge may publish a single data point for compliance. That does not guarantee that every single one of those cartridges is exactly the same as to compliance. Likewise, there are a lot of independent variables that affect effective mass, like the weight of the screws and nuts you use, the weight of the headshell, and I personally am never sure what the manufacturer of the tonearm means when he quotes effective mass for his tonearm, because he cannot know what cartridge is to be mounted or account for headshell substitutions, or for the fact that the distance of the center of mass of the counterweight from the pivot, needed to apply correct VTF also has a large effect on effective mass, etc. I use those published numbers as a very rough guide only. Plus, I have grossly violated the rules governing resonant frequency without problems, though I try not to these days.

Thanks for all the responses. I had a feeling that the cartridge compliance specs could vary. I have a Shure trackability test record from the 80's that I will try. If not helpful, I will get a modern test record.

Another worthwhile point…what are your speakers?  Vented speakers are highly sensitive to inputs below their cutoff frequency…sealed boxes self-damp in that range.  Record warps can cause gross distortion with a too compliant cartridge with   some speakers.  Higher order alignments are more susceptible. Solutions?  High pass filter in phono preamp, viscous damping in tonearm.  The latter is not really an option with your Technics, so if you have fluttering woofers, an HPF will help, a steeper filter than the IEC 1st order.  Even a somewhat less compliant cart would not eliminate this problem entirely…if you have it.