Looking for Tonearm Advice/Suggestions

Dear @puppyt  : I can see that I'm late in your thread and you already pull the triger on the tonearm and seems to me that your first step should been to choose the new cartridge you want to own ( as the Umami Red. ) and then look for the tonearm that can match it the best inside your budget.

Anyway, maybe the Delos playing hours are to much or the cartridge/tonearm set up is not adequated yet.

You need to chek with a good protractor the cartridge/tonearm alignment and after that and trhough " test and error " process makes a fine tunning with the other cartridge set up parameters as: AZ, VTA/SRA,  VTF and the like In the other side the internal tonearm wiring is new and needs some time to settle down.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

@pindac Yes, but the problem is we are all down the rabbit hole. Which cookie did you eat?

I agree with Raul in that you probably ought to have first selected a new cartridge and then a tonearm that best suited your choice of cartridge. However, you have chosen a very fine tonearm that should work well with almost anything, so not much can have been lost in the bargain.  To expand on the definition of a SUT, if you really did not know, a Step Up Transformer as used in conjunction with a low output MC cartridge is for the sole purpose of increasing voltage gain.  Transformers are passive devices; the product of voltage X current at the primary will always (nearly) equal the product of voltage X current on the secondary side of the transformer.  Most commercial SUTs will provide a voltage gain of at least 10X, In other words, the signal voltage on the secondary will be increased by 10 fold over the signal voltage measured at the primary.  So if the LOMC cartridge makes 0.5mV under the standard conditions, 5mV will appear on the secondary of the SUT.  The current seen at the secondary will be reduced by 10 fold, likewise.  But you don’t care about that because you are amplifying voltage.   That said, there is no way you need a SUT in your present system.  SUTs are typically used with phono stages that were designed only for high output MM cartridges.  Such stages typically make about 40db of signal gain between input and output. That amount of gain is inadequate for a typical LOMC cartridge. Your Chanook can amplify the cartridge output by 65db, which is adequate for any LOMC down to about 0.4mV output.  Especially since your linestage adds additional gain to the signal.  The consideration of how much phono gain you need is a bit more complex than I have described but suffice to say you are OK with what you’ve got.  No SUT needed.  As to why your system sounds harsh with the Kuzma tonearm added in is anyone’s guess, but it’s probably not per se the fault of the new tonearm.

@lewm 

Thanks for this explanation. I had never heard the term “SUT” until @pindac mentioned it. I’m glad to learn about it and even more appreciative that you suggest it is not something I need. The good news is I don’t have to keep this tonearm and can return it if needed. I just need to figure out whether or not I can correct the issues I am hearing or whether I need to start over with either the tonearm, the cartridge or both. Your thoughts and those of others are very helpful in this process. 

I do have a general question for you and others. I know speakers and amplifiers have a “sound”. I am very partial to the Dynaudio sound in speakers and I have become a fan of tube amplification. To my ears the combination has provided a warmer, richer sound. I know there is a point at which the pursuit of “warmth” can overwhelm what I would term “clarity” or maybe the term is “accuracy”. I don’t think I have done that so far at least not to my ears. Up to this point every piece I have added has peeled back a layer of the onion without causing fatigue. So my general question is this, do cartridges and tonearms have a signature sound like speakers and amps have or do they simply reveal more as you move up to more expensive and expertly designed models?

In my opinion, individual pieces do make a contribution to overall sound quality, but in the end you’re listening to an ensemble of components and unless something is grossly malfunctioning it would be hard for a stranger to pick it apart and tell you exactly what’s what. First of all, we don’t know what you mean by “harsh”. And we don’t know who set up your new tonearm.