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The Arm/Cartridge Matching Myth

When I began my journey in high-end audio 36 years ago….no-one ever wrote about arm and cartridge matching nor tonearm resonant frequency…?
Over the last 10 years or so…this topic has become not only ubiquitous, but has mutated beyond its definition, to THE guiding principle of matching cartridge to tonearm….❓❗️😵
The Resonant Frequency can be calculated using a complex formula relating Tonearm Effective Mass to the cartridge’s Compliance….or it can be simply measured using a Test record of various frequency sweeps.
The RECOMMENDED Resonant Frequency of any tonearm/cartridge combination is between 8-12Hz.
But WHY is this the recommended frequency and WHAT does it really mean…?

The raison d’etre of this Resonant Frequency…is to avoid WARPED records inducing ‘resonance’ into the tonearm…..
Say what…❓😵
WARPED records….❓❗️
Yes…..ONLY warped records❗️😎
But doesn’t it have any meaning for NORMAL records…❓
None whatsoever…..😊👍
Let me explain….🎼

A badly warped record induces the tonearm to rise and fall rapidly on the ‘sprung’ cantilever of the cartridge.
Depending on the severity and frequency of this warping…..a subsonic frequency between 2-5Hz is induced so if your tonearm/cartridge Resonant Frequency dips into this frequency range….it will begin resonating and thus miss-track and/or induce hum through your system.🎤
Keeping the lower limits of your tonearm/cartridge Resonant Frequency to 8Hz simply insures against this possibility.🎶

So what about the 12Hz upper limit…❓
This simply insures against the possibility of any ultra low-level frequency information which MAY be on the record, also inducing this same miss-tracking or hum. For instance if your tonearm/cartridge Resonant Frequency was 18Hz and you had an organ record or one containing synthesised bass going down to 16Hz…..your tonearm may miss-track or you MAY develop a hum❓😢

So how many badly WARPED record do you possess…❓
I have three out of a thousand or so……and have NEVER experienced miss-tracking or hum even on these three…❗️😍

Yet these days….everyone (without exception it seems)…even tonearm and cartridge designers….happily follow the dictum of this Arm/Cartridge MATCH as if it affected sound quality…..❓
This Resonant Frequency has ZERO affect on the sound quality of a particular tonearm/cartridge combination and I have proved it hundreds of times with a dozen different arms and over 40 cartridges.

The best match for ANY cartridge ever made….is simply the very best tonearm you can afford…whatever its Effective Mass…😘
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
That makes me think of something: Is it only me or do others try not to cue the needle in the middle of the record? I have this feeling that dropping the needle, even ever so slowly in the middle of the record will leave some minor damage in the groove. So I tend to cue at the beginning and let it play through to the track that I want to hear. Is that a pointless exercise?
I've never thought about this before....and now you've got me thinking about this....❗️😱
STOP....⭕️🔙❌🚫
fleib
1,124 posts
 
Harold NTB,
You mean the Luckydog eff mass calc? Copy the URL:
www.luckydog.demon.co.uk/images/EMC.xls
search and open the document. You should find everything from VTF to counterweight distance. Luckydog is a physicist who happens to like records.
Maybe you should send it to Stephen Hawking for a second opinion. How about a mechanical engineer?
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=vinyl&m=164890

For some reason I couldn't get either of your URLs to work. It might have something to do with the space-time continuum, or perhaps a glitch in my internet connection or that pesky virus.
Regards,
lewm
13,228 posts
 
My dear mother was an opera singer. When I was a medium size child, she had a very close friend who was a refugee from Nazi Germany and an opera singer as well, Wagnerian type, maybe a mezzo soprano. The two of them would often sing operatic duets whilst my mom played the piano in our living room. Our 50s vintage home had very large "thermopane" (double glass) bay windows. Believe me, those windows audibly rattled when the two of them got into it during a crescendo. I was always frightened that the windows would shatter at any moment. They probably did not shatter only because there were two panes with an air space in between them.

Harold, I don't think VTF has anything to do with tonearm effective mass. The effective mass does not change with changing VTF. I've got to side with Halcro on the FR66S; that is one high mass tonearm for sure.
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
Fleib, Great ! That link works.

Luckily our Luckydog is a scientist and listens vinyl. My hat off to him as well.
I have measured the effective mass of my SME III for SHURE´s topdog (excuse the clumsy expression) at 1.2 g VTF and yes, this formula gives 4.3-5.6 g depending on the weight of the counterweight ass´y (I can´t remember it precisely) but the value is as I was expecting. Increasing VTF to 1.5 g (with JICO/SAS stylus) it gives 4.2-5.5 g. Fine !

It would very interesting hear what Stephen Hawking would think of and this hobby of ours, wouldn´t it. I can´t email him ´cos I haven´t his address :/

I tought my URLs work as they generally have worked so far... Or maybe we live in paraller universes and the wormhole connecting our worlds is getting weaker...
This may very well be my last message. If so, I wish best of times and hope we will solve this mystery sooner or later.

The answer, however may be quite different for both of us because our universes have different laws of nature and thus our psychics are different, more or less ;_)
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
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