Which tonearm with a Soundsmith The Voice?

Preamp is Air Tight ATC-1 or AUdible Illusions Modulus 3. Power amp is a pair of Wavelength Gemini. Speakers are Cain & Cain Single Ben. Many times sound requires use of my Rel Storm III sub.

Good question...and to cut to the chase...I don't know the answer. I have a similar table (technically, a Teres 245 w/ Verus motor) and a OL Silver tonearm. I have a medium-compliance SoundSmith Aida cartridge. Not sure if it's an optimal match, but it's what I've been using.

Due to the Voice's high compliance (22 or 28), the tonearm effective mass should be as low as possible. A great pairing should be the Funk F-XR which comes in 9" and 12" lengths at 8.5 grams and about 10 grams effective mass respectively.

My "The Voice" is the 22 compliance version.

I spotted a review of the Aida, another Cartridge from Soundsmith, with the same specs. It was very positive. The tonearm was the SAEC 407/23. Is this tonearm in production?

The SAEC 407/23 was made in 1980 and you can find details on it here for reference near the middle of the page. Used samples can usually be found on ebay.

Additional links and images of the SAEC arm can be seen by clicking here.

I am curious about but couldn't find the tonearm effective mass for the SAEC 407/23. If anybody could tell I guess it would be a good piece of information, if only to know what works with the "The Voice" in that regard. On the other hand, I guess it doesn't sound that attractive to buy such an old tonearm. Are there tonearms in current production that work?

I received strong advice towards a Schroeder Model 2 with Pertinax arm wand, but at 4000 us $, isn't this a "little" to costly an investment, is this necessary? I would like to think that you don't need to spend that much to get maximum performance from the "The Voice"

Have you checked with Soundsmith to see what they recommend?

You can always go vintage low mass for less than $500 - plenty of options.

Jperry, now there's the most reasonable suggestion yet!

Soundsmith's recommendatio? I called today: Schroeder.

The entry level Schroeder model (No.2) has 11 gram effective mass which should work with your 22 compliance Soundsmith Voice according to the calculator on vinylengine.com, which indicated a 5 - 11 gram tonearm effective mass is the range based on the cartridge weight.

If you go to vinylengine.com and search you will see there are a variety of tonearms in that effective mass range; including vintage ADC and SME as well as Moerch, Roksan and many others, some significantly less than $4,000.

The SME III, while too low in mass for most MC cartridges, and out of production, is a precision tonearm available for less than $500, than would work with the Soundsmith Voice cartridge.

If you want the best match, and Soundsmith states that the Schroeder is the best match, that answers your question.

If you want to spend less, there are many options, which are high quality tonearms and available for less money.

There may be low mass tone arms that won't break the bank, I just don't know which. One thing is going to Vinyl Engine and select the tone arms with low mass and then research them online and another one get a direct recommendation from somebody who has used the tonearm, specially with the Soundsmith "the Voice". That will render a lot of effort unnecessary.

You may want to also ask your question at audioasylum or vinylengine. Only 3 posted systems here have a Soundsmith The Voice cartridge.

Alanpiga - A few that come immediately to mind: SME Series III, Infinity Black Widow, Grace 707, Mission 774 original. All of these are readily available for less than $500 - most of them closer to $300.

I saw a used Schroder #2 9" arm with a Pertinax armwand for sale, but unfortunately not on Audiogon.

where was this 2 for sale?

22 cu is the same as an Ortofon 2M. There are plenty to choose from that are less than 12g. Even a little more than 12g should be fine if your set-up isn't prone to feedback.

An arm with mass lower than recommended (Black Widow) isn't a good idea. If the effective mass is too low, the resonant frequency goes above the recommended range and can cause intermodulation distortion. This would be especially true in an arm w/o fluid damping.

Origin Live Silver or Zephyr should be good (12g), and also a Moerch with a yellow arm tube. Some people rave about the Audiomods arm from UK, sold direct. There are plenty of excellent used and vintage arms. You have to hunt.

Regards,

I run the vinyl engine tonearm effective mass calculator using 2 gr as mounting hardware (Soundsmith's aluminum screw set) and got the following results for the desired resonance between 8 to 12 Hz (-.82 to 9.16 gr). -.82 gr.: a negative number! there is no lower limit!!! This doesn't correspond with some of the suggestions I have seen. Some suggestions are for 11 or 12 gr. so, practical mass differs from calculated mass. What else is to be considered to determine ideal mass?

Go to the vinylengine Cartridge Resonance Evaluator, and enter "11" in the box where it says "effective mass", then look at the table that is produced.

That should help you with a general idea.

There is no ideal mass. Those calculators are only an estimate anyway, results may vary. You could buy a mediocre arm and have an "ideal" resonance of 10Hz, and it would be outperformed by a higher quality arm where the resonance is outside of the recommended range.

What did Soundsmith say, Schroeder? If that's not doable, you should get as close to that quality as possible within your budget. A resonant frequency of 7.4Hz is not a problem.
Regards,

8 Hz @ the 22 x 10-6 cm/dyne setting which is the low limit which indicates that an arm with 11 gr mass is still a good match with The Voice. My VPI JMW 12 is I believe somewhere between 11 & 12 gr which wouldn't be too bad!! take in account that (I believe) data from VPI is not reliable, in that, first, it hasn't been published, and when It has been given to me over the Phone by a VPI employee I got the sense that it is not reliable. After 12 years owning this tonearm I still dream with the day when someone will tell me the correct necessary information about this tonearm. Nevertheless, if I go with this tonearm mass of between 11 & 12 gr the combination appears to be ok, interpreting from certain writings that these calculations are just approximations. So, looking for a tonearm with a lower mass, say 9 gr. won't necessarily be and improvement. Hence my belief that nothing compares with direct experience of those who own the cartridge. Yes, I believe the Schroeder would be a clear improvement based on various recommendations and the fact that it appears to be a superlative arm. As far as other lesser arms, I really know nothing, I will try to research the others that were mentioned on this thread online.