Hello Alun. I use an original koetsu rosewood [circa 1980]in my ET-2. When I had to send it to Japan for a rebuild, I used both the shelter 501 and a grado statement with very good results. The et-2 lends itself to a wide assortment of different cartridges.Hopefully others will chime in here. All the best. |
Alun, I've used a Grado Reference/Reference (1.5mv) on the ET-2 arm with very good success. As Ecclectique says, I think a wide range of cartridges will work well on this table.
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I concur with the above comments.
At the time I had my et-2, I was most frequently running wood bodied Benz (an M0.9). I heard wonderful sounds coming out of my former collaborator's et-2 with an Ortofon SPU Royal N which is on the stiff side of a Koetsu.
So ... good results I've heard have been from medium to fairly low compliance. I'll leave it to others to comment on high compliance cartridges.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier |
Thanks for the replies, I'm wondering what is considered "medium to low" compliance? |
Alun, here's some reasonably concise information from the SME web site about the ranges for high, medium and low compliance, and why it all matters: With one compliance unit (lcu) equivalent to l x l0-6 cm.dyne, a low-to-moderate compliance design has a relatively stiff stylus cantilever suspension in the 8-15cu range. The medium compliance range runs approximately from 15 to 25cu, while very softly suspended cantilevers fit in the high compliance range, from 25 to 50cu. In the bad old days when low frequency trackability was just about the only well-regarded performance parameter, cartridge compliances over 60cu were achieved, the Empire ZX1000, for example...
Some readers may be wondering why the arm mass needs to be matched to the cartridge compliance. It's a long story, but was thoroughly researched by Shure. Briefly, the total moving mass, made up of the cartridge and that of the arm seen by the cartridge - the effective mass' or moment of inertia - in combination with the spring of the cartridge cantilever suspension results in a mechanical resonance, capable of oscillating or vibrating as the groove is dragged past the stylus. Such a resonance will result in an undesirable, non-musical low frequency output from the cartridge, and worse still, it can impair the stability and the tracking behaviour of the pickup. The worst effects can be ameliorated by some form of arm damping, perhaps by means of a viscous fluid filled dashpot, which reduces the amplitude of the rise in output at resonance, but the alternative, of applying damping to the cartridge suspension, results in even worse tracking on difficult recorded passages.
If the arm/cartridge resonance is on the high side, above 15Hz, say, it will begin to affect sound quality in the bass. Conversely, the tracking is secure and recovers quickly from vibration or shock. If this resonance is too low, lower than 8Hz, the cartridge wobbles alarmingly and is unduly excited by minor warps - Shure's work showed that this has a maximum content around 6Hz. Close examination at such a condition will show the pickup perpetually vibrating at its resonance frequency. A further problem arises with the best-sounding turntables, which generally employ a floating, spring-suspended subchassis. These chassis systems have their own resonances in the 2.5Hz to 5Hz region. For arm/cartridge resonances below 8Hz, the proximity is too great and unwanted energy coupling often occurs, worsening stability and increasing the overall turntable flutter, an unpleasant rapid variation in musical pitch.
Thus 10-12Hz is the ideal region in which to place the arm/cartridge resonance, requiring matching of the arm mass with the cartridge compliance; arm damping will help to extend the range of compatibility, but only so far. Arm damping should be used at a sensibly low level, just enough to take the edge off the resonance magnification factor or 'Q', reducing it from 15 to 4-8, say. Excessive damping adds additional loading to the stylus tip, unbalancing the left and right groove contact forces and disturbing the channel balance as the damping attempts to prevent the cartridge from following minor warps and related disc eccentricities.
http://www.sme.ltd.uk/html/revv.html And Galen Carol Audio also has a good explanation at their web site: www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/tonearmcartridge.html. |
