$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Twl,

As always, you have provided useful and sage comments about the tubes versus solid state issue. For me, the issue is closed and it's a solved problem as far as my system is concerned. What's more, I agree with you about the choice between the two as being a matter of personal taste. That sure works for me.

Hey Dougdeacon,

Thanks for responding.

It might have been very silly of me to ask you about the loading question. I should have known you must have tried every conceivable resistance, and then some.

The Shelter 901 is now off my upgrade list. If it sounds bright in your system, can you imagine what it would sound like with my Ascents, like perhaps breaking glass or fingernails being drug across a blackboard? These could be the horrors of brightness awaiting me with that cartridge.

You didn’t respond about the sonic degradation that one might expect with detachable arm tubes. Perhaps the loss of fidelity would be small for most people, but for those who have considerable experience, it could be a small problem with top quality, low-output MCs.

I have now made up my mind as to what turntable, tonearm, and cartridge I intend to buy. Any predictions? The answer can be found in a single recommendation that was posted here in this thread.

Before I divulge the answer, however, I would like to provide some data I have collected about some of the popular cartridges that have been discussed in this thread. This data includes cartridge mass and compliance as well as the mass of one tonearm that was discussed here, the Origin Live Encounter (effective mass = 14gm). I have also taken the liberty to calculate the optimal cartridge/arm system resonance frequency from the data supplied by Van den Hul in Appendix 2 of his online question-and-answer treatise about phono cartridges. (Incidentally, I got the web site information from, you guessed it, Twl.) Here is the URL: http://www.vandenhul.com/artpap/phono_faq.htm#a2.

According to Van den Hul, when we match a phono cartridge to a tonearm, it is important to achieve a cartridge/tonearm system resonance frequency between 8 and 12 Hz, with 10Hz being ideal. If the resonance frequency is too low, the tonearm/cartridge may be excited by record warps creating audible distortion and mistracking. If the resonance is too high, the tonearm/cartridge may be excited by bass frequencies in the record grooves. Thus, we should select a cartridge with the proper mass and compliance that matches our tonearm, or to select a tonearm with the correct effective mass that matches our cartridge, to maintain a cartridge/tonearm system resonance frequency between 8 to 12 Hz.

Here's the data:

Cartridge Mass

Shelter 501: 8.0gm
Grado Statement Master: 6.5gm
Grado Statement Reference: 6.5gm
Music Maker III:6.2gm
Denon DL103R: 8.5gm
AT OC9: 8.0gm
Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood: 6.0gm
Dynavector 17D2: 5.3gm
ZYX R-100FS: 5.0gm
Sumiko Black Bird: 9.6gm
Benz Micro L2: 9.0gm

------------------------------------

Compliance

Shelter 501: 9 x10-6cm/dyne
Grado Statement Master: 20 x10-6cm/dyne
Grado Statement Reference: 20 x10-6cm/dyne
Music Maker III: 30 x10-6cm/dyne
Denon DL103R: 5 x10-6cm/dyne
AT OC9: 9 x10-6cm/dyne
Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood: 15 x10-6cm/dyne
Dynavector 17D2: 15 x10-6cm/dyne
ZYX R-100FS: 15 x10-6cm/dyne
Sumiko Black Bird: 12 x10-6cm/dyne
Benz Micro L2: 15 x10-6cm/dyne

--------------------------------

Resonance Frequency

Shelter 501/OL Encounter: 11.3Hz
Grado Master/OL Encounter: 7.9Hz
Grado Reference/OL Encounter: 7.9Hz
Music Maker III/OL Encounter: 6.5Hz
Denon DL103R/OL Encounter: 15Hz
AT OC9/OL Encounter: 11.3Hz
Virtuoso/OL Encounter: 9.2Hz
Dynavector 17D2/OL Encounter: 9.4Hz
ZYX R-100FS/OL Encounter: 9.4Hz
Black Bird/OL Encounter: 9.5Hz
Benz Micro L2/OL Encounter: 8.6Hz

Funny, I am thinking about getting the Encounter too. Got the 301 which I prefer over the 501 in my very very modest system. I want even more "air" thus really want to try the Dyna 17D2 but taking it one step at a time...

Nice work. Those calculated values will vary slightly in reality, though probably not enough to matter. It's useful to actually see how a cartridge like a Grado or Music Maker would put you slightly below the ideal range. Obviously most of the other carts would work on the Encounter, though I guess we know which one you're starting with! I predict much musical happiness.

FYI, that ZYX compliance figure of 15 x10-6cm/dyne is for the lateral mode only. For vertical resonance the compliance is slightly lower, 12 x10-6cm/dyne, so it would resonate at a slightly higher frequency. This provides better isolation from primarily vertical vibrations like warps, footfalls, etc.

You didn’t respond about the sonic degradation that one might expect with detachable arm tubes. Perhaps the loss of fidelity would be small for most people, but for those who have considerable experience, it could be a small problem with top quality, low-output MCs.

The only good arm I've heard with a non-continuous cable run is the Graham 2.2. I think the Schroeder Reference, TriPlanar and Basis Vector all better it, but since these arms differ in many other materials and design respects it's impossible to say how much the single run of wire matters. You'd have to compare identical arms with a single run and a broken one. You're welcome to listen to a TriPlanar any time you're in CT, but please don't approach it with scissors and a soldering iron! ;-)

Enjoy your new rig (I know you will). I predict your CDP will be gathering dust. Don't forget to look into record cleaning. You'll need a machine. More money. :-(