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  • Best Arm to mate with...

    What arm do you think mates best with a stone body Koetsu? Under $7500.

  • #2
    I just read in another forum some advice from a fifty yr veteran of phonography. He claimed that in terms of sound quality, the most important part of a phonograph
    is the turntable, then to a lesser extent the tonearm, and finally least of the three, the cartridge. I have no idea if this is really true or not, maybe it should be a topic for
    discussion, but if it is true, it does not make sense to purchase a tonearm to match a cartridge. The tonearm in of itself is more important than the cart used. A better approach
    might be to buy the best tonearm for under $7500, and if you can use the Koetsu its a bonus, if not sell it and buy something else, its not that important.
    Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver Interconnects

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    • #3
      turntable, arm, cartridge in that order is a long held belief for Linn. And when I owned my Linn LP12 I think it's true for them. My experience today is that is all matters...
      Speakers: Rockport Lyra
      Amps: Nagra HD Pre Amp & HD Amps
      Cables: Transparent Magnum Opus Gen 6 cabling
      Power Transparent Opus Power Cords & Opus Isolators
      Digital dCS Vivaldi full stack w/ Transparent Reference XL Digital cables
      Phono: Grand Prix Monaco 2.0 TT, Kuzma 4-Point, Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement, Nagra Classic Phono & PSU
      Racks: Grand Prix Audio Silverstone F1 (x4)

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      • #4
        Yes, it all definitely matters, but if I had to cut the budget on either the turntable, tonearm, cartridge, or phonostage, I would choose to lower the cartridge budget to do the least amount of damage IMO. That's just my case, not everyone's.
        Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver Interconnects

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        • #5
          This brings up the question: what would sound better ? 1. A $500 Cartridge mounted on a $15,000 turntable/arm setup or 2. A $15,000 Cartridge mounted on a $500 turntable/arm setup?

          I think #1 would sound better. ( I know you'll suggest a new #3, a $15k cart on a $15k TT/Arm)
          Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver Interconnects

          Comment


          • #6
            Well if you are talking 12in arms look at the Ikeda 407 at the top of your range. The Schick and Audio Origami might also fit the bill on the lower and middle of your range.

            Originally posted by advanced101
            What arm do you think mates best with a stone body Koetsu? Under $7500.
            Fairchild 750 in OMA slate plinth, Miyajima Kansui, AprilSound RIAA, EMIA step-up, Bent Audi TAP-X pre, Ayre C5x SACD, Innuos Zen Mini, CAD 1543 MK II DAC, AntiCable Level 1 loom. AprilSound 50 monoblocs, or Shiit Aegir or Museatax MTR-101 monoblocs.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Beaur
              Well if you are talking 12in arms look at the Ikeda 407 at the top of your range. The Schick and Audio Origami might also fit the bill on the lower and middle of your range.


              This arm seems to be recommended often with Koetsu, along with the former FR66.

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              • #8
                Yes, while I have never owned either one I have heard both in good systems and been impressed. I heard the Ikeda with a Koetsu (don't remember which one) years ago and liked it.

                BTW if you are interested in the FR66 I know someone who may be willing to part with his.

                Originally posted by advanced101

                This arm seems to be recommended often with Koetsu, along with the former FR66.
                Fairchild 750 in OMA slate plinth, Miyajima Kansui, AprilSound RIAA, EMIA step-up, Bent Audi TAP-X pre, Ayre C5x SACD, Innuos Zen Mini, CAD 1543 MK II DAC, AntiCable Level 1 loom. AprilSound 50 monoblocs, or Shiit Aegir or Museatax MTR-101 monoblocs.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by advanced101
                  What arm do you think mates best with a stone body Koetsu? Under $7500.
                  Which arm do you have on your VPI?
                  Myles B. Astor, PhD, Administrator
                  Senior Editor, Positive-Feedback.com
                  ________________________________________

                  -Zellaton Plural Evo speakers
                  -Goldmund Telos 440 and 1000 Nextgen mono amps
                  -Goldmund Mimesis 37S Nextgen preamplifier
                  -Doshi EVO and Goldmund PH3.8 phonostage
                  -VPI Vanquish direct-drive turntable
                  -VPI 12-inch 3D Fat Boy dual pivot tonearm, VPI 12-inch 3D Fat Boy gimballed and SAT LM-12 arm
                  -Lyra Atlas SL Lambda, vdh Colibri Master Signature, Mutech Hayabusa,
                  -Technics RS1506 with Flux Magnetic heads, Doshi V3.0 tape stage (balanced)
                  -Assorted cables including Skogrand, Kubala-Sosna, Audience FrontRow; Audience FrontRow, Genesis Advanced Technologies , Goldmund and Ensemble Power Cords
                  -Accessories including Stillpoint Aperture panels, Cathedral Sound panels, Furutech NCF Nano AC receptacles; Silver Circle Tchaik 6 PLC, Symposium ISIS and SRA Craz 3 racks, Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Symposium Ultra and assorted SRA OHIO Class 2.3+ platforms.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by MylesBAstor

                    Which arm do you have on your VPI?
                    10" 3D. I'm sending it back to have a stainless tube installed to increase mass. After that it should match up alright. I have also been thinking of moving up to the 12" or just going with something different altogether.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by advanced101
                      What arm do you think mates best with a stone body Koetsu? Under $7500.
                      A word that has not appeared in this thread is: compliance (referring to the relative flexibility of the cartridge's cantilever.) When factored to "? x 10-6 cm/dyne at 10 Hz" (cf. this thread) most stone bodied Koetsus' have a compliance at or under 10. Cartridge weight is ~12.5 grams.

                      While there are no hard and fast rules, typically a higher mass, lower compliance cartridge will work well with an 'arm that has a higher effective mass. The idea being an acceptable tonearm-cartridge resonance frequency, often considered to be in the 7-12Hz range.

                      So consider the effective mass of the tonearm under consideration. Use the resources pointed at in the above reference link to find the arm-cartridge resonance frequency.

                      Fwiw, I've found the Kuzma 4Point arm to work very well with low compliance cartridges.

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                      • #12
                        How much do Tri-Planar's go for these days?

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by JackD201
                          How much do Tri-Planar's go for these days?
                          I'm thinking these have not changed much (if at all) in two years. Data is from Tri Mai.

                          I have a VII U2 SE 10" SE, with the carbon fiber tonearm, but slightly customized to keep the copper wiring.
                          Click image for larger version

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                          • #14
                            Thanks Tim I've found that the MKII U2 does very well with Koetsu carts and is apparently below the OP's ceiling.

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                            • #15
                              Interesting. This reviewer compares the Tri-planar with the Graham.

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