Cartridge Suggestions for a Black Widow Tonearm

Looking at the best test of the arm I have it appears that at least 3 different arm tubes were offered: originally carbon fiber, then metal , than carbon fiber reinforced by graphite fibers. The last is the one I remember as the mass was 4.25 grams. They found that it was quite stiff in the bending mode but torsional stiffness was quite poor. They also found that the anti skate was 30% high so a reduction might give better results. The tracking weight adjustment was right on and the arm geometry was excellent. The add that " Additional mass might be worth adding with some low compliance cartridge types, e.g. moving coils". I would add the mass if I were using low compliance ones. The views on proper mass are quite divergent, I was on another thread where one poster insisted that low compliance MCs needed something like 30 grams to work well. The general consensus is that arms like the BW are better with MM but you can use MCs, the cartridge police will not come for you. I use to ride in a bicycle club where one member rode a mountain bike with road bike tires, it suited him and worked although it looked a little strange.

hmmm, a grace f9e or f9r or f9l may be a good match. there are still some floating around. an upper end grado maybe?

Dear Breuninger: I posted that " prefer " high compliances cartridges and by my experieces through other tonearms I concur with you about low/medium compliance cartridges with low effective mass tonearms and I can add too that the other way can be true too, I use my Oretofon MC 2000/Denon 1000A and even MM/MI high compliance cartridges in high mass tonearms with out mistraking because of that even if you can find the Audio magazyne review on the MC2000 you can read that was mounted in a non low mass tonearm.

These experiences tell us that we have to try/test before we say " no it can't work ".

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

The original question was not if a mid-low compliance cartridge would "work" on a low mass arm. Of course it will work, but that wasn't the question. The question was and is, will it work OPTIMALLY.

IME, the answer is that is will work somewhat differently than designed, and basic physics tells us why.

Fact: Compared to higher mass arms, a low mass arm offers less inertial resistance to stylus deflections.

Fact: a low compliance cartridge offers higher inertial resistance to stylus deflections.

Pairing the two means that energy from a stylus deflection will produce relatively more movement of the arm and less deflection of the cantilever inside the cartridge, when compared with the same cartridge on a higher mass arm.

This does not necessarily result in mistracking. Like Raul and Breuninger I've played such combinations successfully. However it does necessarily result in reduced peak amplitudes. Reduced cantilever deflection = reduced voltage produced by the generater. Lower compliance cartridges on low mass arms yield reduced macro-dynamics (especially in the bass frequencies) vs. the same cartridge on a higher mass arm.

Whether or how much this matters is a user preference issue. Many people prefer a somewhat mellowed sound and this is one way to achieve it. Many Koetsu users are in this camp, since that's the nature of most Koetsu's anyway, so it's no surprise that some Koetsu owners enjoy their cartridges on lower mass arms. Whether the OP would is up to him.

Original photos show the BW saddled with a Denon 103 of some designation. The Boston Audio Society, June 1980 issue, referenced it (among others) for the Dynavector Karat/Ruby: "(4) the Infinity Black Widow II -- so it is reported to us by reliable sources, although we're amazed considering its very loose bearings". The BW 2 has the damped Carbon Fiber armwand. Mine (alum. arm) did well with a Shure V15-111 and AKG P8E, a Dyna. 10xHO was less satisfying. Good luck with this elegant tonearm.