Best Tonearm Match for Shelter 901

I money is not an object check out Shroder Ref
You can order it matched to your Shelter

http://www.audioadvancements.com/tonearms/shroder.html

Twl what is the compliant specs for the cartridges you mention: the benz and grado vs. the shelter? and ZYX's for that matter. Or tell me how to read them. All I could find so far is a 15 for the Benz. I really don't understand what that means.

Brian, the OL Illustrious has a VTA adjustment screw on the base, very similar to your Linn Ittok. The anti-skate bias is set with a weight on a thread, just like the older SME arms used to have. This is very simple, and reliable. No big deal. As far as setting tracking force with a
knob, it is known that setting VTF with the counterweight is the preferred method, and that is how OL does it.

I know some arms have VTA on the fly, and more adjustable this and that. But the bottom line is that any adjustment mechanism also has potential for movement or vibration, and may or may not need alot of changing. Most adjustments are only done once, when you set up the arm. Except for VTA, and I will grant you that some other arms have an easier VTA adjustment mechanism than the OL. But the OL is not really that difficult, and the arm is very good. And all the necessary adjustments are present.

There are other good arms out there, but it's my opinion that the OL Illustrious will beat most or all of them in most any application, especially with a low compliance cartridge. I don't have an Illustrious, I have a Silver, but I'd like to have an Illustrious. The Silver is a pretty damn awesome arm too. Not very fancy looking, but it really delivers in the sound department. The Illustrious is even better, and it looks real cool too. There may be some certain areas that another arm may do slightly better, but none will do all areas combined better than the OL, in my opinion. At least, not in a pivot arm. Of course, this is a matter of opinion, and this happens to be mine. Others may differ.

Jhardy, the term "compliance" relates to the flexibility of the suspension of the particular cartridge. Generally, a number of 12cu or under is considered low compliance. Low compliance means a stiff suspension, and often accompanies a heavier cartridge. Over 12 and under about 25 is medium. And over 25 is high compliance. Actual numerical values of these definitions may vary by some opinions, but these are approximately the values.

Many observe the proper guidelines for arm/cart resonance matching, which would give a combined mass/resonance in the 10Hz-12Hz area. For example, you don't put a lightweight super-high compliance cart on a high mass tonearm. You don't put a heavy super-low compliance cart on a low mass tonearm.

The Shelter cartridges, both the 501 and 901 have a compliance rating of 9cu. This is low compliance. The Benz Glider has a rating of 15cu. That's medium. The ZYX R-100 Fuji also has a rating of 15cu. (Cu is compliance units). The Grado Sonata has a rating of 20cu. Most cartridge compliance ratings are listed on their spec charts.

The Shelters like an arm around 12g effective mass.

Thanks Twl for the response. I apologize for you writing this over again because after I wrote that question, I found a 12/26/02 response from you regarding someones SME 309 vs. JMW 10 vs. Graham 1.5 thread. It was an excellent explanation of the compliance issue for me also.