Please Help T3F problems

lewm - I love the sound of the Studio/T3F. Comparing it to my LP12/Ittok is like floating in a 3 dimensional sea of sound on the Goldmund vs the sound of a $300 cd player (going through a Krell DAC), lifeless and lacking tons of detail. 

There a huge difference in cartridges on the 2 tables. The Goldmund has a Koetsu Onyx and the LP12 has a Mission 773.

The cheapest fix would be to repair/replace the motor on my LP12 and move the Koetsu to the LP12. I just don't have any faith that it would sound anywhere close to the sound of the Goldmund.

Thats why I'm trying so hard to fix the T3F.

rauliruegas Do you by chance have Apogee speakers?

I knew a guy years ago in the Apogee forum that had a set,

I can tell you that Raul does not have Apogee speakers.

You are correct in noting that there is a huge difference between your two cartridges.  You could, in the interim until you can get the T3F fixed, move the Koetsu to the LP12, but you need a very high effective mass tonearm to get the most out of the Koetsu, and I don't know anything about the Ittok.  The good news is you can increase the mass of the Ittok in any of several ways, as simply as putting a coin on the top of the headshell.  A US nickel weighs 5g, for example.

Thanks lewm

@scotchboy 

Actually you should not add mass to the Ittok headshell if you run the Koetsu Onyx on the Ittok.

I had a customer with Linn/Sumiko MDC800/Koetsu Onyx Gold - sounded superb.

The MDC800 is only 11g effective mass.

The Ittok LVII is 13.5g effective mass.

The Onyx is quite heavy at 12.5g, ( most of the Linn cartridges are around 7g ) and adding further mass to the Ittok headshell with the Onyx installed will degrade the sound. If anything you might need a heavier counterweight to optimise the sound by running the counterweight closer to the pivot.

So - if you want to run the Ittok/Onyx - just install as is.

Be careful, the Onyx bodies are easily cracked - do not do the bolts up too tight - just a gentle pinch.