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Tonearm for Teres turntable - approx $1000 - ??

I have way to much time to research for components for my new analog setup, and keep on thinking about new ways of spending my budget (which keeps increasing in size. :-( )

I have at least decided on the turntable - basically a Teres 160 - and the cartridge - Zyx R-100H.

I had decided on an Origin Live Silver tonearm,(with Twl's HiFi mod, of course,) too, but now I'm wavering about that decision. I can not afford to spend thousands of dollars on the tonearm, but can probably stretch my budget to about $1000. Used is fine... Are the Hadcock tonearms (which seem to be about the same price as the OL Silver) any good? Better than or equal to the OL Silver? Is there something better I should look for, or should I just stick with the OL Silver?
oakiris
c123666
871 posts
 
Brand new Morch UP4 with 12" or 9" precision wand retails for 1149 I think; you can probably get one for a bit less. Very nice arm and nicely finished.
twl
3,251 posts
 
As long as you are planning to stay in the medium compliance range of cartridges, such as the ZYX, then unipivots can be a valid choice for a tonearm. As the compliance of cartridges gets lower, it becomes more and more difficult for unipivots to retain proper control over the cartridge. There are some stabilized unipivots which can adequately control low compliance cartridges, but they are generally more expensive ones.

The main thing is to be sure that the tonearm you are considering will be matched to the range of cartridges that you will use. The type of bearing, arm tube, and effective mass, are all things that must be considered into the equation.

The Hadcock is an unstabilized unipivot arm that is known to be a good match with high compliance cartridges such as Grado. Many people consider Hadcock/Grado combinations to be a "magical" matchup. But it would be a far stretch to try to match a Hadcock to a Denon DL103, Shelter, or Koetsu.

It is all "relative" to the cartridge/tonearm matching. Many arms can be very good when matched with the right cartridges, and mediocre or poor when matched with the wrong cartridges. It is difficult to discuss the merits of a tonearm, unless a cartridge is considered in the discussion. Some arm designs are excellent at some things, and poor at others. In many cases of relatively good tonearms, it is the match with the cartridge that will decide what is best to use.

Regarding the "TWL HiFi mod" for the OL Silver, the effect of that mod is only moderate on medium compliance cartridges such as the ZYX, and is much more effective on the lower compliance cartridges that it was designed to work with, such as Denon DL103 or DL103R, Shelter 501 or 901, or Koetsu. Improvement is noticeable with cartridges like the ZYX, but not as astounding as the lower compliance cartridges.

Can't comment on the Morch, except that I would prefer the more expensive dual-pivot DP-6 over the UP-4 personally.
oakmoss93f2
10 posts
 
The Morch DP-6 looks like a very nice arm indeed. I've seen it for $1500...A bit higher than I would like - perhaps I'll have to eliminate something else from my wish book, such as an RCM.

Is it true that you also need to get tonearm cables for this arm because it doesn't come with any? Also, I see Morch offers various "arm tubes." Is this just for the UP-4 or is it for the DP-6, too. If so, what weight do I need to get for the Zyx cartridge?

Twl - couod you give me a quick tutorial - or link me to same - about cartridge "compliance ranges?" I have no idea what this means, but obviously I need to know in order to make a good cartridge/tonearm match.

OakIris
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