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Graham and Shelter matching - and other arms/carts

When you get a component that truly lifts your system up and reveals what's going on everywhere else, you learn things about your system that you hadn't realized before. My new Io Sig has shown me that I probably need a better linestage (I posted about this in Amps/Preamps), and it's also taught me something about arm/cart matching.

Now that the Io is in the system, I am hearing an unhappy balance between my Graham 2.2 tonearm and Shelter 901 cartridge. There's a tubby bass resonance that sounds to me like the Shelter cantilever feeding back into the unipivot arm structure. The outriggers on the Graham are supposed to minimize this effect, but perhaps the match just simply isn't made in heaven.

Instead, my Ortofon RS-212 tonearm, matched with Ortofon SPU Classic GM cart, is sounding much more balanced, real and musical.

That leaves me with the question of what to do with my Graham and Shelter. I'd like to have a "modern" arm/cart combo to compare with the classic Ortofon setup (I currently have 3 arms mounted on my table). My third arm is an Origin Live modified RB250, which currently has a Denon 103R mounted on it (probably not the perfect matchup either). The Shelter doesn't sound fantastic in the Rega - it's better in the Graham.

I do like the Shelter sound a lot, so I could buy an arm that's a more appropriate match for it, a Moerch perhaps. But I'd have to sell the Graham to afford that, and I kind of want to keep a unipivot.

Any recommendations for exchanging the Shelter and Denon for carts more appropriate for the Rega and Graham, or vice-versa?
patrickamory
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Dear Dickson: Well, it's good for you. The REX is not an easy cartridge. It is very important to match with the right tonearm ( mass/compliance ). I give to you, here, the formula for check the matching between any phono cartridge and any tonearm: f= 1/2Pi X sqare root:1/mc
where Pi= 6.2832, m=tonearm effective mass and c= cartridge dynamic compliance. The ideal is that f=resonance frecuency will has a value of 10hz, but it's ok between 8hz to 12hz. For the m total value you have to take: tonearm effective mass+cartridge weight+headshell weight+nuts-screws weight,headshell wires weight+....
I would like to know what happen with your REX, with 2.5 in VTF and with out damping ( this is to see about the sibilance ).
We keep in touch.
Enjoy the music.
Raul.
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Dickson: Terrible mistake. Instead to say Pi= 6.2832, it would say " 2Pi= 6.2832 ".
Sorry.
Enjoy the music.
Raul.
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Dear Patrick: I have two of your turntable ( there are some Tweaks to do it ) and I own your Ortofon tonearm. Can I have the operation manual of the RS 212 from you ?.
Please let me know about it.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Patrick: About the Acoustic Solid: try 3 Tri-Orbs heavy
isolation foot from Van Slyke Engineering www.vsengr.com
it works splendid. Try the mat from SAEC ss-300, last time I see it in e-bay ( turntables ). This two mods are better than the mods list on enjoythemusic.com. Other thing: I can see on your picture that you are using a belt drive, instead of the belt drive I'm using a thread and this makes a difference.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
cardiackid
63 posts
 
I have a Graham 2.2 with a Shelter 901, and I have not experienced the tubey bass sound you describe. In fact the bass is very taut IMO. I do think the loading of the Shelter is critical and mine is loaded at 50ohms. (And, I did readjust the volume on my speaker subwoofers to my personal taste for the Shelter. The cross over frequencies remained the same.)

You have to go with what pleases you, but I am not sure if something is not a miss here with the set-up.

Greg
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