Jelco SA-750D cartridges

 It seems that the most recommended cartridge for this arm is one of the DL-103's, but am not thrilled with idea of a conical stylus. I would, however, consider one of the modified versions of the 103 with a different stylus shape, but I'm leaning away from moving coil.

Normally recommendations like this coming from people who never owned a better cartridge than this old crap from the 60s which is still in production and the reason is a low price. 

SA-750D is a mid mass modern tonearm, so you can use any mid compliance cartridge on it. You need a Hi-Fi Test LP to measure the actual tonearm/cartridge resonance and you can tune it with headshell and mounting screws (if you want to add mass for lower compliance cartridges). 

You don't have to own and use certain tonearm to understand everything about tonearm/cartridge matching. And every tonearm manufacturer of today wouldn't make anything too heavy or too light. The trend of super lightweight tonearms for high compliance MM is not a trend of today. Heavy tonearms like FR designed for fairly low compliance cartridges like Denon, but modern MC cartridges are mid compliance (most of them). 

So the answer is MID Compliance for MID Mass, you are in the middle of the trends. 

Recently i discovered very rare version of Pickering XSV/3000 cartridge designed especially for higher mass tonearm, the version is XSV3000SP with a compliance of 15cu (while the conventional Pickering was 30cu - high compliance for lightweight tonearms). It was very reasonable to design lower compliance cartridges in 1989 (it was discontinued in 1994), because previous design was released in the mid 70's when tonearms for MM were too light (5g mass). This classic MM cartridge with Samarium Cobalt magnet and Stereohedron stylus tip is great for Jelco and related mid mass tonearms. 

I was surprised that Michael Fremer interviewed Norman Pickering, check analog planet. Normally he's not into vintage gear, but Pickering cartridges just like Stanton and Grado are American heritage. 

A low mass, ultra powerful samarium cobalt magnet assures accurate tracking or high velocity modulations in the groove. Stereohedron stylus can be used for 1000 hrs. It is shaped to provide an enlarged area of record groove contact, while providing the ability to accurately trace the high frequency, the level modulations found on today's records, thus, the Stereohedron stylus provides superior performance which low stylus wear and low record wear. 

You should read Doug Sax comment about Pickering twin brother 881s HERE. Old but very interesting read. carts with Stereohedron stylus were reference cartridges at Sheffield Disc Mastering according to TAS MAG. At that time the Stanton 881s (equal to Pickering XSV/3000) wasn't even the top model, there are at least 3 more expensive models over the 881s and XSV/3000. Highly recommended! 

I used a Jelco SA-750D for years.  Had very good success with an AT OC9/II and Lyra Clavis Da Capo.  Both carts were mounted in the "stock" Jelco headshell that came with the arm.  From that experience, I would expect any of the AT carts in the OC9 family including the ART7 and ART9 to work well in the 750D.  

I’m leaning away from moving coil.

that’s right

I’m particularly interested in hearing from anyone using moving iron or moving magnet models that work well with this arm. I like the idea of a user-replaceable stylus, but the Soundsmiths seem pretty interesting, too.

I have huge collection of MM and some MI too (also many MC).
Modern MM cartridge are normally mid compliance, so absolutely no problem for your Jelco mid mass arm. Some of the best vintage MM/MI are mid or high compliance. Anything with MID compliance should be a perfect match for Jelco, when i say MID it is 15-20cu @10Hz , anything closer to 30cu is high-ish compliance. If you will see in the specs of Japanese cartridges a compliance figure measured with 100Hz then simply convert it to 10Hz before you will make any calculation of the cartridge/tonearm resonance. Use "x1.7" formula to convert dynamic compliance from 100Hz to 10Hz. Every calculation must be made ONLY if you know dynamic compliance at 10Hz (remember).

And i hope you can find on our forum the right mass of Jelco tonearm.

Some very nice modern MM cartridges on the market are from Garrott (Australia), strange that i’m only one person on Audiogon who recommend Garrott, it is a very old reputable brand, legendary! Their P77i Dynamic Coil is starting point for you, but for more AU$ you can get Garrott Optim with F.Gyger stylus.

There are alternatives to SoundSmith for sure!

Grado MI for example, but most of them are high compliance.

From the golden age there are mid compliance Audio-Technics AT-ML series, the AT-ML170 OCC is real killer!

Victor cartridges like X-1IIe with titanium cantilever and much more expensive X-1II with beryllium cantilever (Shibata tip) are also mid complaince and perfect for Jelco.

@bpoletti:

Thanks for the recommendations. I grew up with AT cartridges and need to shake my bias against them. My memory of the cheaper ones I used back in the day is thin, bright and veiled, but the Signets were excellent. I'll have to look more closely at the ones you suggested as well as the Lyra.

@chakster:


Thanks for the compendium of cartridge compliance knowledge. I'm a retired engineer, so the calculations aren't a concern. The problem lies with the conflicting data on the effective mass of this arm. Apparently, the Jelco people can't even agree on the correct figure.

The data sheet I have for the 750D lists the effective mass as 13.48 g, but there are numerous accounts online of people who have communications from Jelco listing the effective mass as high as 20 g. The source of the confusion is not clear so, rather than depend on questionable data, I thought that first-hand recommendations from people using the 750D would be the way to go.

Particularly enlightening is knowing that there is a way to test tonearm resonance without lab equipment. I didn't know that there is a "Hi-Fi Test LP" for this purpose. That is indeed a game changer.  

Yes, Hi-Fi Test LP if the only way for us to see when the arm and cartridge resonate at certain frequency recorded on the test track for lateral and vertical compliance (separately). Great tool, buy it. In addition to the theory, using Hi-Fi Test LP is practical method.

These two tracks on LP is what you need to measure everything and report us, this is how you can find out the mass of the arm (if you know everything else).


1) Cartridge/Arm Lateral Resonance Test - Sweep 25-5Hz (L+R)+ 1kHZ Pilot Tone 0:75
2) Cartridge/Arm Vertical Resonance Test - Sweep 20-6Hz 0:40

P.S. I don’t think the mass of the short Jelco is 20g, maybe it’s the mass of the long version of the arm?

Reading this forum for a long time i see many people using everything wrong when it comes to the arms and cartridges matching, some people use it right.