Used Morch DP-6 or modified Origin Live Silver?

Hi Doug. I have no personal experience with the Morch arm, so I can't really comment about that. I know that alot of people really like that arm.

To be fair, there are a couple of unipivots that can handle the Shelter well, but they are mostly higher than the $800 price range.

To comment about your questions, the adjustable azimuth feature is most important if the arm or cartridge is made wrong with bad azimuth. If it is correct, then it doesn't need to be adjusted.

I never used an arm with adjustable vertical damping, so I don't know how that improves things. I would suspect that it may have an effect on warp tracking, either good or bad, depending on how it is adjusted.

Horizontal stabilization is important, and naturally I think the HiFi mod is exquisite in this regard. But I have to recuse myself from that part of the discussion because I am the inventor and seller of said mod. There are a number of HiFi users that may want to comment about it.

The effective mass of the OL Silver is good for a cartridge like the Shelter.

Since I only have experience with the OL Silver, of the arms in question, I can say that set up and ease-of-use with this arm is easy and good. The main drawbacks of the OL Silver are that the VTA adjustment is more crude than some other arms I've seen, but it works well. The wiring loom is adequate, but not as good as the megabuck arm wiring. The stock counterweight is easily bettered by the Expressimo Heavyweight, and should be considered as a mandatory part of this arm package, for best performance. The appearance of this arm is quite pedestrian, and lacks the "wow" factor of some other arms. But it makes up for that with very good sound quality for the money. It has excellent bass response, liquid mids, and nice clear highs, and is very low in colorations. One of the least colored arms that I know of. Very musical and detailed, and not analytical. It is probably not the ultimate in any single category, but as a whole it does it all better than most arms. I'd say it is a very good value arm, and with some of the aforementioned "fishing weights" properly placed, ........well, you know.

Others who are more aware of the Morch performance characteristics can comment on that arm better than I.

I'm familiar w/ the Morch (but not the OL; what a quandary:)) It's a very good arm and relatively easy to set up. The azimuth, angle, etc are correctly set, so no problems (unless the previous owner has been playing with this; if so, Tom, if you can convince him, could probably solve the issue magnificently...).
I used the arm with a Clearaudio Accurate & Discovery. It's on the neutral side of neutral (to coin a bad phrase), tracking is very good & resulting "speed" effect is excellent. Musical presentation is very open, mids are liquid (not harsh/ analytical) and the upper end extension obtained was at par (if not better) than with a more expensive arm. We didn't notice resonance issues and the bass was very clear and tight (maybe lacking ultimate extension?). Note that listen to classical music & use large orchestral passages to "audition" arms & cartridges.

I THINK a Morch would like the construction concept of the Teres; it felt very well in a Clearaudio TT, a big Project and a S. Yorke.
BUT, I've never used a 901. Maybe Tom can extrapolate because $800 for the Morch +cable looks like excellent value.

BTW, this is an exotic analogue rig you're setting up!

The Morch DP-6 is a dual bearing design, while the UP-4 is a unipivot. The DP-6 has a ball bearing damped with silicon in the horizontal. It uses two sapphire bearings in the vertical. Damping in both planes is separate. Vertical can be adjusted. One of the sapphire bearings is used to provide azimuth adjustment.

I agree with Greg that $800 for a good used Morch DP-6 is good money spent. I have found the Morch arms very fluid and accurate. I heard the DP-6 as nearly straight neutral and the UP-4 as just a hair on the warm side of neutral.

Personally, I think that the Morch is a better sounding arm than the Silver with the midrage a little more forward inthe presentation, but that may well differ depending on table and cartridge, I'm sure. And, I've never heard one with the now famous HiFi mod. The Silver has less "adjustments" and is, therefore, easier to set and forget. The Morch is a bit more work and likely no the arm for someone fearful of "working with" their tomearm

Thank you all for your responses.

Twl,
Obviously I know you're the inventor of the mods, no need to recuse yourself. I've read all of that amazing thread and everyone who's tried it declares it's a keeper. You should be proud of your baby.

It's good to know that azimuth adjustment is "optional".

I had the same reaction as you to the concept of vertical damping. Damping the arm at the beginning and end of a warp would momentarily increase effective tracking weight. This "should" have only a minor sonic effect. Damping the arm at the top of the warp would prevent a momentary decrease in effective tracking force. This "should" help prevent mis-tracking that might otherwise be audible. Theoretical conclusion: a judicious amount of vertical damping should provide audible benefits on warped records, though possibly minor ones. I suppose experimentation would be in order.

Thanks for the tip on the Expressimo Heavyweight. How would you compare it to your suspended weight mod?

Gregm,
Thanks for the Morch insights. There aren't many users of this arm so it's hard to find a review. Your observations were especially pertinent since our music is also 99% classical, including lots of large scale works. That's what steered me toward the 901 vs. the 501. The 901 reportedly shines in large scale works.

Yes it will be a fairly exotic setup, though hardly in Twl's league. The rest of my stuff is downright pedestrian by comparison. I doubt I'll ever buy another TT. I can't say that about anything else in the system.

4yanx,
At last! Someone who's heard both arms, even if un-modded. Your comparison is about what I would have guessed, but my expectations are based entirely on reading rather than listening. Always best to get an ears-on report. I don't particularly fear working with a tonearm, but then you know what they say about fools and angels!

All,
The Morch was just snapped up by someone else. (If it was one of you, grrr!) Looks like it will be an OL Silver after all. Thanks again for the help. Maybe I'll upgrade to a DP-6 next year, after paying off all this exotica. Really like the idea of a 12" arm. I haven't needed to adjust for skating or non-tangent tracking in over 25 years.

Doug