Is a Koetsu Rosewood Sig Overkill for my JMW 9Sig?

Yagbol2:

Does the Graham have the same geometry as the JMW 9?
Will it mount in the same location?
I'm sure the Graham is a significant upgrade from the 9 Sig.
Jim

Jim,

I don't think it's overkill. I had one on my JMW 10.5 arm with no issues whatsoever.

John

Audiofeil has made many negative comments about JMW-9 on many posts, but never gave solid reasons why JMW-9 was not worthy of a world class cartridge or even a Shelter 901. Many fine arms are only 9" long, SME included. In fact, VPI loves the JMW-9 so much they favor JMW-9 over the 10 or 12 internally. That explains the new 10.5i on the Aries 3 because the plain 9 surpasses 10.5 and 9 Sig is even better.

So my vote is to go for it, what is there to lose? JMW-9 cutout is same as Rega and that's probably the only arm that will fit in that hole without getting a new plinth to cut for Graham Phantom. I am sure Phantom is a great arm, or even just the 2.2, but 9 Sig can stand on its own consider the price difference.

Semi,
I owned a JMW-9 for 2 years so I speak from experience. I used it with 4 different cartridges, Dynavector 20XH, Music Maker 2, Zyx Airy 2, and Zyx Airy 3.

The 9 will track all of these cartridges but only the Dynavector will be optimized. The Music Maker, Zyx, and the Shelter 901 will not show their best in that arm. If you have a problem with that fine, but that's the truth whether you like it or not.

For the record, I think VPI builds fine tables. They compete with many of the top manufacturers. However, the JMW-9 arm, with or without the window dressing upgrades, is not a particularly good tonearm IMO.

Thanks for listening.

Bill,

Could you please explain what you mean by 'optimized'?
I ask because this might be a taste issue.

I owned a JMW 10.5 for several years with several cartridges (Benz Glider, Lyra Helikon, Benz Ruby 2H, Koetsu Rosewood Signature, ZYX UNIverse S-SB). I never had any tracking issues, and I never had any sonic complaints while I enjoyed this combination. I should also say that I had many audiophiles visit over the years, and they all were very impressed. Let's just say that I've converted my share of digitalphiles to vinylophiles.

Now, all of that being said, I've recently changed to a Basis 'table w/ a Vector 3 arm. The difference was bigger than I thought it would be, mostly in the favor of Basis.
The first thing I noticed was how much quieter the Basis gear was. I never thought of my VPI as 'noisy', but the Basis has a 'mute silence'. By this I mean, sometimes when I drop the stylus into the lead track I think I forgot to unmute the preamp, even though I hadn't forgotten, as it was so quiet I thought the preamp was muted. I walk up to the preamp to turn the mute off, and the music begins before I hit the switch. Yes, that kind of quite.

After the black background, the differences are basically that the Basic is quicker, more lively, transparent, with better attack and decay on musical notes. The VPI presented a bigger, warmer sound, with powerful bass, though the bass is better defined with the Basis.

So does the Basis Vector 3 arm allow you to hear more into the music? Yes, but that doesn't mean that you cannot appreciate a high quality cartridge on a VPI arm.

With that said, if you are looking for a more balanced sound, you may be best to match a quicker, livelier cartridge to the VPI. That's probably why so many VPI owners enjoy the Lyra's. A warmer cartridge like the Koetsu may sound best on a more transparent table like the Basis. Of course if your system is on the bright side, a warm cartridge on the VPI could sound just right.

It's all about balance. Does any of this make any sense, or am I just up too late?

John :)