Best Arm to mate with...

[advanced101]

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

[JCOConnell]

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.

[jfrech]

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...

[JCOConnell]

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.

[JCOConnell]

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)

[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.

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

[advanced101]

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.

[Beaur]

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.

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

[MylesBAstor]

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

Which arm do you have on your VPI?

[advanced101]

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.

[Guest]

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.

[JackD201]

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

[Guest]

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.

[JackD201]

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

[advanced101]

Interesting. This reviewer compares the Tri-planar with the Graham.

http://www.soundstage.com/vinyl/vinyl20080915.htm