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
"to the point of irrelevance" is close enough to no impact for me.

I miss zero nuance. If anyone is missing nuance it’s the ones still saying compliance is so important. It is- if your arm is crap. If your arm is good then it by definition doesn’t really matter what cartridge you put on it. The arm that is only capable of making certain cartridges sound good is by definition not a good arm. It is a picky arm. It is a specialized arm. It is an arm that can be used with good results only with a very limited selection of cartridges.

That’s the nuance I’m trying to get across.

What gets me, these are all very high end arms and cartridges we are talking about. I could understand if it were budget gear. Cheap arm, compromises must be made. To pay a couple hundred for an arm, and it really only works well with certain carts, fine. A worthy compromise. Totally understandable.

But this is not cheap gear we are talking about here. To pay big money only to get an arm you have to change and buy yet another big money arm just to use an even bigger money cartridge, that is just nuts. That is like, "Thank you sir, may I have another!"

If that’s too visually nuanced, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIZoVO8ZyyQ (Notice the one dishing it out, is enjoying it.)
The stone bodied Koetsus are very heavy so you can get away with lighter arms. The 4 Point is an excellent choice I think the 9" arm is the best of the lot. You should also look at the Reed 2G and the Schroder CB and LT. If your turntable can take it the Schroder LT is the best of the lot as it is a pivoted tangential arm. Reed makes the 5T, also a pivoted tangential arm but, it is animated and costs twice as much as the Shroder. Frank Schroder is a very clever guy. 
+1

"tomic601
7,850 posts

Love it when people weigh in with real world listening experience based on a variety of arms and carts they own. Plural not one hit wonders."
What people say they hear does not have much value. First of all with what speakers not to mention the rest of the system? What about his ears? I did a hearing test today on a fellow who complained of tinnitus. He thought his hearing was fine. It was steeply rolled off from 2000 Hz equally in both ears.
 Humans are terrible at describing what the heard. They can tell you immediately that they heard a violin but they can not tell you how the violin sounded. If they have been listening to a well balanced system problems with other systems problems will be obvious when they hear them. They can tell you it is too bright which is really brighter than what they have been listening to which if well balanced means they are right. 
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.   
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.