$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Twl,

I have a question regarding the Denon DL103R and the Origin Live Encounter tonearm.

The resonance frequency of the DL103R on the OL Encounter seems to be 15 Hz by my calculations. Can this be right?

In an earlier post, you indicated that you have used the DL103R on the OL Silver, which has an effective mass only one-half gram less than the OL Encounter, but yet this combination worked well, right?

I think I could use a little clarification because my calculations would indicate a mismatch. Did I miss something?

Thanks!

I second Artar1's recommendation of the Moerch DP-6, especially the 12" wand. I use the 12" wand with my Galiber Quattro ALU and it sounds very nice. (It also looks great with the Galibier's shiny aluminum finish.) By a number of accounts, the 12" wand sounds considerably better than the 9" wands. I don't have first-hand experience on this since I've only heard the 12".

Dave

Hi Artar, yes there is something else in the equation. The OL Silver I use has the "HiFi" mod, which increases the horizontal effective mass greatly, and provides better matching with low compliance cartridges like the DL103R. The OL Encounter has a heavy bearing housing that also provides a similar effect.

Actually, the effective mass figures that are published are primarily vertical effective mass, and encompass mainly the tonearm alone. The horizontal effective mass encompasses any mass that rotates on the bearing along with the tonearm, such as the bearing housing. In effect, there are 2 effective mass figures for most toneams, horizontal and vertical, but vertical is the one that is most mentioned in specs, and horizontal is probably more important when figuring in the cartridge compliance and stability issues.

Some tonearms strive to have the same(or similar) effective mass in both planes. Others are significantly different in each plane. The needs of the tonearm are very different in each plane of motion. The vertical needs low effective mass for good warp tracking, and the horizontal may need higher effective mass to stabilize the arm against unwanted lateral movement caused by the stiffness of some low compliance cartridge suspensions overdriving the horizontal effective mass of the tonearm. Any lateral deflection of the tonearm over the groove during play caused by the movement of the stylus, will cause loss of information or reduced dynamics, because all the motion of the stylus is intended to be transduced into electrical signal by the cartridge generator coils, and movement of the tonearm actually cancels this process to some degree, depending on the amount of unwanted arm movement. The arm should remain motionless and centered over the groove during play. If it is not, then some of the energy that is supposed to be tranduced into electrical signal is lost in mechanical movement of the arm, and will never be heard. This is the subject of my HiFi tonearm modification that is discussed in depth in the "Strange Tonearm Tweak" thread in the Analog Forum pages.

Hello Artar1,

I read your post a few entries back on constructing a rack using sandboxes. FWIW, I have just completed doing a project just like this and have posted pictures on my system page. I borrowed the concept from Chris Brady's web page and just used different materials, but basically it is hardwood and laminated MDF. The shelves that float on the sand are hard maple and I took Chris's idea and used that sticky backed foam insulator material to fill in the gap around the edges. This works great as I had to use a putty knife to hold the foam back to allow air to escape while I was installing the shelves. I have my table sitting on the top shelf, but it is a suspended Basis. The sandbox would work very well, IMHO, for a Teres or any other audio equipment for that matter. The trick with a mass loaded table would be to make the stand below the sandbox very heavy and rigid. Not really that hard to do.

Artar1: Along the way in my recent return to vinyl sojourn, I came across a woodworker that builds custom maple sandboxes (with dovetailed corners etc.), platforms, stands, racks etc... http://timbernation.com/ampstand_PopUp.cfm. I purchased a custom sized (28” x 22” approx.) stained 4” thick maple platform from him for less than $250 (I believe it was $225.00) including delivery.

For my new Galibier Quattro (just received), I was leaning in the sandbox direction, and Chris quoted me a great price for a maple box and platform. However, for my application I decided to go with the 4" thick platform.

The 4” platform I did receive met my expectations in terms of size, and finish, plus the price was right – a good combination of positives, and highly recommended.