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The Arm/Cartridge Matching Myth

When I began my journey in high-end audio 36 years ago….no-one ever wrote about arm and cartridge matching nor tonearm resonant frequency…?
Over the last 10 years or so…this topic has become not only ubiquitous, but has mutated beyond its definition, to THE guiding principle of matching cartridge to tonearm….❓❗️😵
The Resonant Frequency can be calculated using a complex formula relating Tonearm Effective Mass to the cartridge’s Compliance….or it can be simply measured using a Test record of various frequency sweeps.
The RECOMMENDED Resonant Frequency of any tonearm/cartridge combination is between 8-12Hz.
But WHY is this the recommended frequency and WHAT does it really mean…?

The raison d’etre of this Resonant Frequency…is to avoid WARPED records inducing ‘resonance’ into the tonearm…..
Say what…❓😵
WARPED records….❓❗️
Yes…..ONLY warped records❗️😎
But doesn’t it have any meaning for NORMAL records…❓
None whatsoever…..😊👍
Let me explain….🎼

A badly warped record induces the tonearm to rise and fall rapidly on the ‘sprung’ cantilever of the cartridge.
Depending on the severity and frequency of this warping…..a subsonic frequency between 2-5Hz is induced so if your tonearm/cartridge Resonant Frequency dips into this frequency range….it will begin resonating and thus miss-track and/or induce hum through your system.🎤
Keeping the lower limits of your tonearm/cartridge Resonant Frequency to 8Hz simply insures against this possibility.🎶

So what about the 12Hz upper limit…❓
This simply insures against the possibility of any ultra low-level frequency information which MAY be on the record, also inducing this same miss-tracking or hum. For instance if your tonearm/cartridge Resonant Frequency was 18Hz and you had an organ record or one containing synthesised bass going down to 16Hz…..your tonearm may miss-track or you MAY develop a hum❓😢

So how many badly WARPED record do you possess…❓
I have three out of a thousand or so……and have NEVER experienced miss-tracking or hum even on these three…❗️😍

Yet these days….everyone (without exception it seems)…even tonearm and cartridge designers….happily follow the dictum of this Arm/Cartridge MATCH as if it affected sound quality…..❓
This Resonant Frequency has ZERO affect on the sound quality of a particular tonearm/cartridge combination and I have proved it hundreds of times with a dozen different arms and over 40 cartridges.

The best match for ANY cartridge ever made….is simply the very best tonearm you can afford…whatever its Effective Mass…😘
128x128halcro
cabbiendi
10 posts
 
Hi Henry,
I would like to underline a couple of things,
1-
for some reason I believe tangential arms are more sensitive to res-freq than pivot arms, perhaps because the cantilever also has to support the burden of the lateral mass ?? I'm not sure. As I noted elsewere it was an amazing improvement in sound quality when I rised the res-freq from about 5Hz to 9,5Hz, in my old T3F.
2-
I do agree with those than think the cantilever will overflex with too low res-freq.

3-
Finally, what about speakers ? I personally cannot listen to to closed-box speakers. I prefer panels or OB desings like Siegfried Linkwitz & John Kreskovsky.
Electronicaly EQ-subs are not possible to be used when res freq goes under 6Hz, even if LP is perfect as the mere touch of the stylus in the first 5mm will send the woofers to bottoming ... but not only. When I had the Apogee Full Range the woofer-panel went into crazy/over excursion even if the Krell Elec-XO did not used any EQ. OTOH when you stick to the righ res-freq. nothing bad happens.

Regards,
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Stylus compliance is what matters... mechanically the same as matching shocks on a car.
Welcome Davide256...😆
As the first contributor to this Thread who does not agree with it....it would be beneficial if you could provide some mathematical or scientific arguments to counter those I have proposed...❓👀
Oh...and the analogy with "shocks on a car" is inaccurate unless you happen to run your cartridge's VTF at 14Gm....⁉️
But then again....a car does not have an 'Effective Mass'...😎
What it weighs is what it weighs....😜
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Greetings Zavato...✋
I could not get your Link to work unfortunately.....😢

I think we did read different magazines....❓👀
In Australia we had access in the late '70s and early '80s to British magazines like Hi Fi Answers and Hi Fi Choice...and in the mid '80s onward, we could buy TAS and then later still...Stereophile...😍
I may be wrong...but I can't recall reading about this subject in those magazines during those early years...❓👀
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Sorry Peterayer...my bad...😴
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Cancel my previous Post Davide256....
I've just read some of your other Postings...
Turntables like the Linn and Sota when properly balanced have a suspension resonance point below the audible range of human hearing, vibration from the surface the TT rests on is damped by the suspension above the resonance point.
As to importance, the tonearm is secondary to the turntable. A spring suspension turntable like Linn or Sota with an entry level tonearm will reveal much more than if you buy a better arm but compromise on a non spring suspension turntable.
1) speed accuracy to the point where its musically relevant has been pretty much solved in any TT costing over $300
2) the average stylus pressure is 1.5 gm. The drag of this on a rotating platter assembly of 2000 gms is negligible; the mass equivalent of a tricycle towed behind a truck
3) vibration isolation/damping is what counts...horizontal vibration in the plane of the stylus vibration will suck transients, detail and bass out of your playback

Direct drives are very difficult to isolate vs belt drives

Faith-based 'opinion' will not 'cut' it here...👎
Science-based knowledge and educated thinking is welcome....👍
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