Why is the price of new tonearms so high

Axelwahl your last point is where things get interesting.

Like everything else it is a matter of compromise. As you have noted, a low inertia arm reduces the maximal VTF variation. The compliance required to keep the resonant frequency in the right range changes at the same time, so the effect of a given warp in terms of displacement of the cantilever suspension depends on the resonant frequency: the higher the resonant frequency the smaller the effect.

Unfortunately we're not free to move here. As previously noted the product of inertia and (rotational) compliance forms a low pass filter. As the equation previously given shows, the attenuation and phase response of this filter depends on the ratio of f/f0, so as the resonant frequency moves towards the audio band the effects of these become more and more pronounced. That is why resonant frequency is optimised over such a narrow range.

Mark Kelly

FWIW, what Quiddity is saying makes sense to me.

IS it accurate to state that the combo of cartridge/compliance and tone arm together matters greatly? A great or expensive tonearm with mismatched cartridge/compliance still won't work well, right?

Mark, whats you favorite Tonearm of choice and why have you chosen it?

Mark,
y.s.:
>>> ... your last point is where things get interesting.<<<

OK, that is where everything then would get 'relative' --due to a cart's compliance. (Never mind the carts particular damping 'scheme', MCs in particular)

B U T we still have not hammered this nail all the way in where 'dynamic' vs. 'static' balancing is concerned.
Would even THAT become a function of the cart's compliance and damping behaviour?
Could one cart sound better with dynamic and some other better with static balance?

Your comment on this might be interesting in deed.

Axel

Axelwahl

The only advantage I can quantify for spring applied VTF is one that seems to have have been ignored in this thread, namely immunity to movement in response to externally applied acceleration (read noise). As I see it, get rid of the noise and there's no point.

Perrew

Not going to go there.

Mark Kelly