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Silicone fluid for Moerch tonearm damping?

I have never tried to add silicone fluid to the tonearm well on my Moerch DP-6 tonearm, just used it for the pickup lifter, but have been told that it might help me with the new cartridge I will be getting, a Denon DL-103. The Moerch tonearm (blue dot) at 14 grams is a bit less than the effective mass that the Denon cartridge prefers and I was told that damping the tonearm might help with tracking and just make the whole set up sound better. I am willing to give this a try, but I seem to have misplaced the container of silicone 'fluid' that came with the tonearm and can't find any specs about what actual fluid was recommended by Moerch.

Does anyone know what weight of silicone fluid (oil?) should be used for the Moerch tonearms? Turntable Basics sells damping fluid, but I need to know which weight would be best.

(FYI, I did email Moerch about this, but haven't received an answer (someone told me I am not likely to ever get an answer from them. :-( ) and I also emailed Sorasound, the USA distributor, but received a "canned" response from Mehran saying he was in Belgium until near the end of the month and that I should email him again at that time.)
oakiris
oakiris OP
206 posts
 
Well, guess I am on my own with this! If I decide I need to dampen the tonearm after listening to what the system sounds like without it, I will just get the lightest oil (10,000 cst) and go from there.

Holly
rpfef
110 posts
 
Do not despair.
In my experience, Mehran has been cooperative and responsive.
If Mehran says he is in Belgium, odds are that's where he is.
If you persist, I am sure you will be able to get the Moerch fluid complete with dispenser from Sora Sound.
oakiris OP
206 posts
 
lol - Mehran is definitely a good guy, in my limited experience, never occurred to me that he might be telling me a story about being in Belgium!

No response from Moerch (surprise!) or Hudson Audio (another Moerch distributor) so I may have to wait for Mehran to return. Luckily, I am not in a hurry - I don't even have my cartridge yet, thanks to Comet Supply's shenanigans.

Holly
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,993 posts
 
Holly...I would wait and listen to the combo of your DP6 and
DL103 without any damping fluid. I really think you will
like it as is.

IMHO, it's always better to have no fluid damping than to
over dampen things. Getting the correct amount of fluid in
a tonearm will drive you crazy. It's usually a lesson in
futility. Chances are you'll probably like it better
without the fluid and getting the fluid cleaned out of the
arm is a pain the ass.

I can count on one hand, the number of cartridge/arm
combinations that "really" required damping fluid
and sounded better with it than without it.
oakiris OP
206 posts
 
Happy V-Day, Mofimadness! I definitely plan to listen, and to listen for a while, before I add any damping fluid.

I read one post, or review, or something about just adding a drop at a time - but if you add one drop too many... And if you do put in too much, I can't imagine it is all that easy to remove it!

If only my cartridge was here I would be listening to my records this weekend. Comet Supply now says USPS has probably lost my package, and they will send me another cartridge, but they have to wait until USPS gets back to them to make sure that this is the case. I can see this dragging on for another month.

Holly
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