Stylus not stylist....oops.
Help me understand compliance!
Hello all,
I have a Rega Planar 25 with an RB-600 tonearm. I am at a loss with words like compliance. What weight/ compliance combination is correct for a cartridge for this tonearm? I’m looking for the correct weight and compliance so I can go shopping. Also, any recommendations/ experience with cartridges on this rig would be appreciated. The rest of the system is a Conrad Johnson premier 11a power amp, sonic frontiers sfl-1 preamp, B&W 804s speakers and a MF lx-lps phono preamp. Cables are Musica Bella emberglow speakef and ic
thanks in advance!
skipper320
I have a Rega Planar 25 with an RB-600 tonearm. I am at a loss with words like compliance. What weight/ compliance combination is correct for a cartridge for this tonearm? I’m looking for the correct weight and compliance so I can go shopping. Also, any recommendations/ experience with cartridges on this rig would be appreciated. The rest of the system is a Conrad Johnson premier 11a power amp, sonic frontiers sfl-1 preamp, B&W 804s speakers and a MF lx-lps phono preamp. Cables are Musica Bella emberglow speakef and ic
thanks in advance!
skipper320
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- 24 posts total
You should take the above post with a grain of salt. Matching cartridge and tonearm should not be overlooked! You should take the above post with a big grain of salt. The unimportance of compliance should be appreciated! https://www.originlive.com/cartridge-compliance-tonearm-effective-mass-cartridges-work-well-origin-l... |
Buy a HI-Fi NEWS TEST LP and measure your actual tonearm cartridge combo, you will see where is the resonance frequency really is. " Tracks 2 & 3: Cartridge & Arm, Lateral & Vertical Resonance Test These two tracks are used to test the resonant frequency or your tonearm and cartridge combination in both the vertical and horizontal domains. These tracks offer both a visual and auditory indication of the resonant frequency; the stylus will “wobble” and the test tone will warble. A resonant frequency between 8 - 15Hz is ideal.'" |
The matching of cartridge compliance to tonearm effective mass is quite "plastic", in that there is a lot of room to make them match, if you use the standard goal of achieving a resonant frequency of 8 to 12Hz. Plus, in the modern era, we are inundated with "medium mass" tonearms and cartridges with manageable compliance numbers, so for the most part if you are using new OEM stuff, you needn't worry too much. MC, who discounts the importance, actually uses a tonearm that matches well with his cartridge, which is maybe why he can say he pays no attention to the issue. If you look at the equation for the resonant frequency (Fr), it depends inversely upon the square-root of the product of tonearm mass, M, multiplied by the cartridge compliance, C, at 10Hz, as Chak says. If you go on line and look up one of the calculators for Fr, you can fool around with the values for M and C and quickly see there is a lot of room for varying one vs the other parameter and still being in the OK range. This is because you are taking the square-root of the product of those two parameters, which mathematically jams the result into a narrower band of values that tend to produce an acceptable outcome. By the way, "weight" as we commonly use the word, has little to do with the calculation. "Effective mass" is a product of the distribution of the mass of the tonearm, starting from the counter-weight to the pivot, and from the pivot to the headshell and cartridge, to include the mass of the cartridge and the mounting hardware. Don't knock yourself out with this stuff. Probably your Rega tonearm is in the broad category of "medium mass". Then it depends upon how much your cartridge adds to M and what is its C. |
- 24 posts total