Silicone fluid for Moerch tonearm damping?

Well, guess I am on my own with this! If I decide I need to dampen the tonearm after listening to what the system sounds like without it, I will just get the lightest oil (10,000 cst) and go from there.

Holly

Do not despair.
In my experience, Mehran has been cooperative and responsive.
If Mehran says he is in Belgium, odds are that's where he is.
If you persist, I am sure you will be able to get the Moerch fluid complete with dispenser from Sora Sound.

lol - Mehran is definitely a good guy, in my limited experience, never occurred to me that he might be telling me a story about being in Belgium!

No response from Moerch (surprise!) or Hudson Audio (another Moerch distributor) so I may have to wait for Mehran to return. Luckily, I am not in a hurry - I don't even have my cartridge yet, thanks to Comet Supply's shenanigans.

Holly

I believe Hudson Audio has been hors de combat for a few years.
Sora Sound is the one.

Holly...I would wait and listen to the combo of your DP6 and
DL103 without any damping fluid. I really think you will
like it as is.

IMHO, it's always better to have no fluid damping than to
over dampen things. Getting the correct amount of fluid in
a tonearm will drive you crazy. It's usually a lesson in
futility. Chances are you'll probably like it better
without the fluid and getting the fluid cleaned out of the
arm is a pain the ass.

I can count on one hand, the number of cartridge/arm
combinations that "really" required damping fluid
and sounded better with it than without it.

Happy V-Day, Mofimadness! I definitely plan to listen, and to listen for a while, before I add any damping fluid.

I read one post, or review, or something about just adding a drop at a time - but if you add one drop too many... And if you do put in too much, I can't imagine it is all that easy to remove it!

If only my cartridge was here I would be listening to my records this weekend. Comet Supply now says USPS has probably lost my package, and they will send me another cartridge, but they have to wait until USPS gets back to them to make sure that this is the case. I can see this dragging on for another month.

Holly

"I believe Hudson Audio has been hors de combat for a few years." Not sure what you mean by this - are they out of business??

I did hear back from Moerch - from Hans Moerch himself. He didn't answer my questions though, just said to contact Mehran. lol That was a waste of my time - and his!

Holly

"Hors de combat" is French for "out of the battle."

Holly...I didn't know what "hors de combat" meant either. I had to look it up. It means "outside the fight".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hors_de_combat

Glad to hear you finally got your cartridge!

Holly-

As the owner of two Moerch arms, I thought I would chime in about damping.

First you probably know that dampening is factory set in the horizontal.

Second, don't be afraid to experiment with dampening in the vertical.

Only 0.2ml of silicone fluid is needed. Forget about drops and such, it's all or nothing. Fluid is high viscous (think "like thick glue" and 0.2 ml of fluid in the well is really a tiny amount. You do need the applicator it comes in because of the limited space you have - to inject and flick the tip of the applicator against the well top.

The screw that the arm wand screws into can be adjusted if you want less dampening. Make sure that you do not go lower than the factory set level it is now set at. You can go higher (to lessen dampening) but never lower. In other words, as set, the screw provides the maximum level of dampening.

But my point is that dampening in this tone arm has gotten a bad rap on the web, and I don't agree with the general consensus. Also, if you don't like it after you have experimented, it is not the end of the world to get it out. In fact it is quite easy. I found it easier to get out than it was to get in.

All that is needed is a package of small, model glue applicators purchased at a craft store. You reach into the well, swell around once or twice and remove. After about five of them the well is clean. The process takes about 5 minutes. Simple. Since they are designed to apply small quantities of glue, they leave no filaments behind and the applicator itself is designed for exactly this purpose, only in reverse.

Wear headphones to evaluate the results. I happen to like the effect, and now use dampening all of the time. Just keep an open mind. To me, with a Dynavector xx2 cartridge, listening to classical music, I find that the timbre of the stringed instruments and the tympani are better represented and since I go to live orchestral concerts on a regular basis, I feel that my opinion is based on real musical experiences.

Anyway, don't let the naysayers affect your judgement. Part of the fun of this hobby is experimentation.

I'm not sure why you have had trouble contacting Mehran. He has always been very quick to respond to my email queries, even though my first arm was purchased used. I mean within several hours, too.

Good luck.

I tried the silicon in my DP6, and decided to take it out after a while. It just constrained the dynamics too much. Wich I knew about those sticks, because getting it out of the well with toothpicks was a big PITA.

lol - I knew what hors de combat meant, just didn't know - and still don't know - what that means in reference to Hudson Audio. I never got a response from them so I will interpret it to mean that they are out of business.

Thank you for your thorough explanation of your experience with damping the Moerch DP-6, Rodrigaj - and I was wondering how you would remove the damping fluid if you decided you didn't like the results, so, like Ptmconsulting, I am happy to find out an easy method of doing so.

Unfortunately, I don't have a way to use headphones with my 2-channel rig; I would love to do so, but my power amp has only one set of outputs, for the speakers, and I don't really want to add another switch box to the mix in order to choose between speakers and headphone amp for the output.

I actually heard back from both Hans Moerch and Mehran, but neither of them answered my question about what weight of silicone fluid should be used. I don't understand why it is such a secret... lol

@Rodrigaj - You said the silicone fluid is of high viscosity - should I get the heaviest weight/CST available then?

Holly

Holly-
Are you saying that Mehran can't / won't sell you a syringe of the silicone fluid?

I have no idea of the viscosity of the fluid I have, but I do know that if I wanted to experiment with it, I would just buy it from Mehran. One syringe of the stuff will last you a lifetime of experimentation, even if you only get about a 6ml syringe.

If you don't want to or can't buy it from Mehran, then I would go with the medium viscosity of 30000cst offered by Turntable Basics. I don't think you could go wrong with this.

This is all pretty much trial and error anyway. As long as you can get the stuff out easily enough, you can experiment all you want. I think that in the end, one has to stop and "enjoy the music". Turntables can drive you crazy if you let them :-)

I don't know what is going on with Mehran. Hans Moerch apparently forwarded the email I sent to him about the damping fluid to Mehran, so Mehran had that email as well as the one I originally sent at the beginning of February. He responded on 2/19 by saying he had already answered my email, I told him the email he had sent to me only said that he couldn't answer my email until he returned from Belgium, again let him know what my question was....and he has not responded since then.

I will go with your recommendation of the 30000 CST oil. Thanks Rodrigaj!

Holly

I fear this suggestion is a bit old fashioned but I find the technique works pretty well most of the time.
Use your phone. Seven seven three/ seven ought six/nine seven zero five.

lol - I hate using the phone because I am tied to it all day by my work, plus I like to have the "paper trail" made possible by emails. But, point taken - if I decide I want to go through with damping the tone arm and I can't live without finding out exactly what Moerch uses, I will call Mehran. :-P

Holly

Just save yourself the hassle of calling Mehran, buying the fluid, waiting for it to arrive, installing it into the arm cavity, waiting for it to settle, evaluating the change in sound, then taking it all out again to just get back where you started.

IMO, of course.

lol - I agree with you, Ptmconsulting. I won't go through the hassle until I actually know if the tonearm needs the damping fluid. I didn't realize it would end up being a hassle when I started this thread, of course. I was sure someone here would know exactly what weight of fluid/oil was required, just as I was sure that either Mehran or Moerch or both would respond to me quickly with the information.

I am planning to first try the set up with no tonearm damping and take some time to really listen to what the DL-103 and Moerch tonearm sound like together. I am hopeful that the system sounds just fine without me having to experiment with tonearm damping.

Holly