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
Wish I could remember but Triplanar v7 sounds right. Cardas internal wiring straight from cartridge to phono inputs.

IKEDA 407 is a descendant of FR64S from the same designer, so probably should work well w Koetsu. Just a guess.

MC, where did I or anyone else mention effective mass or compliance? Whatever you may think of their importance, the fact is that some tonearms mate well with certain cartridges than others. I make no claim to know exactly why that is. It’s trial and error. How do you know that some other tonearm might not outperform your OL, mated w your Koetsu?
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. 






I own an FR64S and its all that for lower compliance carts. I also use a Groovemaster Ti and it to works a treat for these carts as well although its a bit more restrained.  On my wish list to try is the Glanz and the Schroder broadcast...