Ikeda 9GSS cartridge compliance

High end prices have spiralled out of control as we all know, but $4800 for a SUT? These are passive devices with not much technology involved. The choice between copper or silver for the wiring is pretty much the only variable (in price as well as sound). There are plenty of great SUT’s on the used market at much more reasonable prices that are in no way inferior to this Ikeda. As long as you choose one with around 3 ohm as ideal input impedance and around 26-30 dB gain, it will match perfectly with your Ikeda 9. There are plenty of those around. Even the uber Audio Technica AT-1000T (silver wired, 8kg!) can be found for less than half that amount. These devices don’t deteriorate much with age (arguably, the silver wired will only improve), so no risks involved like with buying older cartridges. You can save yourself a lot of money. Or if curious buy several for the same money (or still less) and have fun comparing the results.

Compatibility with the tonearm is a much more complex affair and here the choice for the Ikeda (or older Fidelity Research FR-64/66 series) makes perfect sense. For me, the jury is still out on whether 9", 10" or 12" is preferable. I own two 10" and three 12" arms and I can’t really say there is a length determined sonic benefit either way.

Scot, you are on the right track, the 4 Point 9 is an amazing arm. Like Mike Fremer I set the SRA to 92 degrees and forget about it. VTA towers are not worth the expense. I would go with the 9. The 4 Point 9 is in my list of top 5 tonearms. 
What are you using for a table? 

So Mijo, you would ignore the resonant frequency issue and go with a low mass tonearm regardless of cartridge compliance? That’s basically what you inferred. What happened to the sports car vs truck suspension analogy?

I forgot to mention, there is nothing wrong with step up transformers. If you have a phono stage that you like the best thing to do is install naked but shielded transformers inside the phono stage. You can add a switch to switch them in or out of the circuit. Personally I do not like switches an other controls in the cartridges signal path. I only ever keep one cartridge installed, the one I like best. So, I will go in and move two wires. Might take me 10 minutes total. I have an ARC PH3 SE which I adore. But, it only has 54 dB of gain which is not enough for many cartridges. I installed two Sowter mono phono transformers and they sound great. Doing it this way results in a quieter situation and it avoids another interconnect and two connections in the signal path. Rt now I have a high output Soundsmith cartridge so the transformers are disconnected. I would very much like to try an ultra low impedance cartridge with a current mode phono stage but I just spent all my Hi Fi money for the year.
Maybe next year:-)

@lewm , you know me well enough to know I would never do that. You have to use more compliant cartridges. Running with a high resonance frequency begs for feedback and bass tracking problems. But, I will always go for the lighter arm as long as it is very stiff and has only 2 degrees of freedom. The Schroder CB, Reed 2G and Tri-Planar are examples of arms I would buy, all 9 inch versions. If you have to add a little mass to get things just right so be it.