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van den Hul Colibri, Koetsu Rosewood Signature, SoundSmith Sussurro Mk ii

After years of focusing on medium to high compliance MM and MI cartridges (and a handful of old piezoelectrics) in various turntables, I'm finally looking to add my first serious MC cartridge.  I've long been interested in either the Koetsu Rosewood Signature or the van den Hul Colibri (XGP/XGW) and had planned to go with one of those carts.  That said, I've seen enough glowing reviews of the SoundSmith Sussorro and its progeny to make me seriously consider that as an alternate route.  I would love to hear thoughts from anyone who has experience with more than one of those carts.
The cart will be mounted in a Moerch DP6 (yellow) as the second arm on a Thorens TD 124.
My listening tastes are eclectic, so I'm particularly interested in how the carts handle a diversity of music.
Thanks in advance.
Best,
Carroll
cmdc
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
A low compliance cartridge on mid mass tonearms (or on a light mass tonearm) may be "fine" only for those who does not care about theory of resonance frequency described here. It’s easy to measure tonearm/cartridge resonance with Hi-Fi Test LP.

8g "yellow" armtube suggested by the OP. It’s a bad choice for a very low compliance cartridge! 14g "blue" armtube is better, but not ideal.

Everything can work until there is an issue with some slightly warped records and stuff like that.

There are tonearm with effective mass twice as much compared to Moerch "blue" and they are made for low compliance MC

Koetsu is not just a low compliance, it’s an EXTREMELY LOW compliance (7.5 cu at 10Hz)




chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
After years of focusing on medium to high compliance MM and MI cartridges in various turntables, I’m finally looking to add my first serious MC cartridge.

Ortofon MC2000 could be your last LOMC if you have all those Moerch arm tubes, because it is a high compliance MC. But only if you can find a dedicated SUT or special current injection type phono stage (or very high gain phono stage).

Diamond cantilever Dynavector KARAT 17d2 mkII or higher in this series is also perfect choice! It does not require high mass tonearm.

P.S. For a very low compliance cartridges you really need another tonearm, with much higher effective mass.


stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,525 posts
 
I have an Ortofon Windfield and hundreds of records.  Never heard mistracking.  Not knocking P/L design....just sayin
bpoletti
1,560 posts
 
I'm surprised nobody has mention Lyra cartridges.  The Delos and Kleos carts are quite good.  Not thin or too analytical like the early Lyra's, particularly the ones with the ceralloy cantilevers.  They are medium compliance carts that will work with your heavier arm tubes.  
sdrsdrsdr
196 posts
 
Chakster is right. It will still play and probably sound  ok, but not it’s best with a light arm. I have had Denon 103’s and only got mediocre sound. Always wondered why all the hype. Similar compliance to Koetsu. When I got a 12” Ikeda (heavy arm) I finally heard the denon sound good. 
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