Here’s an update on my Mørch tonearm saga:
I'll preface this with many sincere thanks to the ever knowledgeable Eric (aka bdp24) for his tireless work on this project and his expert advice and help!!
1) Hans Henrik Mørch personally responds to questions. He was prompt and very helpful. Hans misunderstood my original question; hence, the initial suggestion of placing a washer under the tonearm base. The US distributor for Mørch, SoraSound, supplied me with a PDF of the mounting template.
2) There is a small (1.5mm) Allen set-screw at the base of the tonearm which is very discreetly situated. While I’d noticed it, I didn’t know that - by simply loosening it - the entire arm lift mechanism can be moved up/down. It’s all perfectly aligned now.
3) As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wasn’t using the term "azimuth" correctly. By slightly rotating the eccentric counterweights on the tonearm, I was able to align the cartridge so the sides are now orthogonal to the record surface.
4) To clarify regarding the new arm board, Kinko’s didn’t print the UP-4 mounting template exactly to scale from the PDF I provided. I should have measured it myself before having the new arm board drilled. An oversight on my part, of course. I got another new and perfectly matched acrylic arm board for about $30: very reasonable. I recommend Tap Plastics in Portland. They did a good job and the work was done in about an hour.
5) The MK 2 sounds very fine indeed through my recently acquired LRS (replacing Vandersteen 2C).
6) My next step may be replacing the Mk 2 suspension with either Herbie’s Tall Tenderfeet or maybe the IsoAcoustics Gaia III. The Herbie’s are much less expensive. I’ve not seen a performance comparison between them.
Keith
I'll preface this with many sincere thanks to the ever knowledgeable Eric (aka bdp24) for his tireless work on this project and his expert advice and help!!
1) Hans Henrik Mørch personally responds to questions. He was prompt and very helpful. Hans misunderstood my original question; hence, the initial suggestion of placing a washer under the tonearm base. The US distributor for Mørch, SoraSound, supplied me with a PDF of the mounting template.
2) There is a small (1.5mm) Allen set-screw at the base of the tonearm which is very discreetly situated. While I’d noticed it, I didn’t know that - by simply loosening it - the entire arm lift mechanism can be moved up/down. It’s all perfectly aligned now.
3) As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wasn’t using the term "azimuth" correctly. By slightly rotating the eccentric counterweights on the tonearm, I was able to align the cartridge so the sides are now orthogonal to the record surface.
4) To clarify regarding the new arm board, Kinko’s didn’t print the UP-4 mounting template exactly to scale from the PDF I provided. I should have measured it myself before having the new arm board drilled. An oversight on my part, of course. I got another new and perfectly matched acrylic arm board for about $30: very reasonable. I recommend Tap Plastics in Portland. They did a good job and the work was done in about an hour.
5) The MK 2 sounds very fine indeed through my recently acquired LRS (replacing Vandersteen 2C).
6) My next step may be replacing the Mk 2 suspension with either Herbie’s Tall Tenderfeet or maybe the IsoAcoustics Gaia III. The Herbie’s are much less expensive. I’ve not seen a performance comparison between them.
Keith