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Koetsu black, lacking bass

Greetings 
i just installed a new koetsu black cartridge. I love the clarity of this cartridge. I was using a lyra kleos , which is a great cartridge but the clarity of the koetsu black is at another level.
does anyone know if the black cart is light in the bass? It seems to me that  the bass sound of my system has diminished with the koetsu. Is this a break-in characteristic? I should mention that I installed a furutech gtx outlet which is still in the break-in phase. I’m using a clearaudio magnify tonearm with a clearaudio performance tt. My preamp is a McIntosh mp1000 with acoustic zen ic cables. Mcintosh ma252 amplifier, focal aria 948 speakers with transparent super speaker cable. Any insight and knowledge would be helpful and appreciated!
thank you
dpoud
dpoud OP
2 posts
 
thank you to all who took the time to answer my questions. I've read somewhere else that adding mass to the headshell improved the sound of the black cartridge. What is the best way to add mass? I've read about people adding pennies to the headshell, which sounds a bit crazy and not something that I want to do. Is there a product out there for adding mass?
thank you
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
There are plenty of companies making varying weight cartridge screws to start with.
A friend has some on his table where the head of the screw is a large brass knob shaped afair which added a decent amount of weight.
Myself I machined a piece of brass to fit top of headshell with two holes to enable screws to pass through.
Yes you then likely still would need longer screws.

But as a test first a tiny bit of blutac with a penny or dime on top of headshell and see if it even helps before going any further.
mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,895 posts
 
His Magnify arm is a hybrid magnetic bearing (not as bad as the fully magnetic Clarify, but still), so I’d be wary of adding mass to that system (e.g. the tail wags the dog). Koetsu seems to like high mass AND rigid bearings, AND I haven’t had good results with Koetsu stone on the Clearaudio carbon fiber wand, so the tonearm is definitely in question as a possible culprit here.
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Try adding one, two or three US nickels to the headshell. Each weighs 5 grams. You may then need to add some weight to the counterweight to adjust the VTF(2.5 grams).
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Consider getting a high-mass arm. I have two for use with mc cartridges: Fidelity Research FR29 and FR54. I agree with mulveling that the Clearaudio arm is suspect!
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