The Schroeder has arrived

Frank,
A friend with much experience with the Denon 103 family believes the 5cu spec is for vertical compliance only. His measurements indicate a lateral compliance of about 10cu, much closer to the mainstream of cartrdiges. Does that tally with your experiments?

On the whole I'm with Raul on this topic. Science has only gone so far, and it's not far enough to provide all the answers. While gross mismatches should probably be avoided - unless you own 15 arms, 30 cartridges and love to experiment! - it is a waste of time trying to predict musical performance from mass and compliance numbers. There are other factors, not published in anyone's specs, that effect how any arm/cartridge combo will sound.

George,sorry,I don't want to come off as a snob.Your question was a compliment.For that,thanks.You may know some of my BKLYN pals,though.Do you know Sid Marks,or Dave Nemzer?

Hi Doug, Raul ...

I wonder if I am doing a disservice by publishing the mass/compliance chart. I think some explanatory notes should be added and I will do so.

This all goes back to listening being the final arbiter of "goodness". I need to put some sort of advisory on the spreadsheet to the effect that treating the numbers as being an instant recipe for success is just not possible.

The idea was keep people from starting off with completely wacky combinations like a Shure with an SME 3012R. Now, some have reported success with weird combinations, and I'm not saying that it isn't possible If you were a gambling man however, it wouldn't be the smart place to start, unless (through lists like this) you hear reports of special combinations making magik.

If people get out of this that once you "run the numbers", you are done, they will likely be stopping short of the finish line.

As both of you have wisely observed, the numbers are only the beginning of the story. As you have no doubt have experimented, two different combinations resulting in the same res. freq. can result in one combination sounding at or near its best, with the other one sounding ... er ... suboptimal.

The Benzes seem to be one example of it being dangerous to go too low - below 8 or 9 Hz (as observed - not calculated). OTOH, Denons and Dynavectors for example are quite happy down in that range - at least on unsuspended decks.

Cheers,
Thom

Dear Thom: The mass/compliance chart is a great service to all. It is the best advise to start about and I agree with you to " put some sort of advisory ..".

Well done.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

^^^
What Raul said.