Tonearms that work well with better Koetsu stone body cartridges


Hi

I have my heart set on buying one of the better stone body Koetsu cartridges. The problem is I’m having a problem finding a tonearm that’s supposed to be a great match. I’ve read that they sound best with higher mass tonearms. The problem is, not every manufacturer will list the effective mass of their tonearms. I am leaning towards the Kuzma 4 point (11”) and the Ikeda 407. Does anyone know the effective mass of the Ikeda 407? If there are any others that work well with the Koetsu’s please let me know. I prefer new, not used. Thank you.

Scot
scothurwitz

Showing 3 responses by dover

compliance is well down the scale of significant factors to the point of irrelevance in a good arm. You may find those who will argue with this but they always seem to relate matching issues they’ve had with other arms and not an Origin Live one.
Of course he would say that - he wants to sell as many arms as he can.
There's a sucker born every minute.

On the other hand, I partially agree in that statement - in my view the quality of the bearings is the most important, particularly with cartridges that put a lot of energy into the arm. 

However, you miss the nuance of what he says - that compliance is less of an issue than many think - he does not claim that compliance has no impact. Origin live arms are medium to upper medium effective mass -  they should work with most cartridges made today. It is more the difficult trackers, very low compliance and very high compliance cartridges that require more careful matching. 

As far as the stone bodied Koetsus ( Onyx Golds ) that I have personally set up the best sound was obtained with FR64S & Sumko MDC800.
Note that those two arms sound different - the FR64S more extended top and bottom end, the MDC800 fuller midrange, less tight in the lower end.

This is my hands on experience, it wasn't a fantasy that everything I own must be the best - which appears to be the rationale for some. 






A good tonearm should not have a sound of it's own like the Tri Planar, Schroder CB and Kuzma 4 Point 9. A good cartridge will sound exactly the same in all three arms. I can say the for the Windfeld Ti which I have heard in all three arms on a very well balanced system for what it's worth.  
The reality is it doens't.
I have swapped arms many times using the same system, same turntable, same cartridge - all arms have different sonic signatures even the most expensive.
The most recent example was when I set up a Van Den Hul Colibri
on 3 arms in the exact same system - Moerch DP8, Helius Omega, Kuzma 4Point11. Basically I swapped out the arms on the exact same TT/Cartridge in the same system.
Each arm/cartridge sounded noticeable different. In one case - the Helius - it was so different you would not have recognised the cartridge. Just so happens the Helius has an extremely low effective mass relative to the others.
@scothurwitz 

Yes.
Originally the owner purchased the Moerch DP8 12" based on reviews and suitability for the medium compliance Colibri. This sounded very quick and quite neutral in balance.

Then he becme interested in the Kuzma 4Point so I installed the 3 arms in sequence in one session. He still owned the Helius as well as the Moerch.

The Colibri in the Helius had a more full bodied midrange than either the Kuzma or the Moerch, however the top end was slightly course and less resolved than the other 2 arms.

After comparing the Moerch/Colibri to the Helius/Colibri I then installed the Kuzma 4Point11 with the Colibri.

The Kuzma 4Point11 with the Colibri was very quick, very dynamic and much more resolving than with the other 2 arms. It was easily the best arm for the Colibri. 

As far as Koetsu's go I have owned a few and indeed the FR64S silver wired with B60 VTA bass that I also own does dig deep and provides real grip on the Koetsu's. However for a general arm I am a big fan of the Kuzma 4Point, it is quick, transparent, and ease of setup and VTA on the fly is hard to beat in my view.