Morch DP6 and vertical damping - pros & cons??

Hi Holly,

I haven't used a DP6 or R100H, but I have heard four other ZYX models on various tonearms. Minimal or zero damping has often sounded best. As a rule, most ZYX models seem to be pretty well damped internally. The Airy 3 is an exception, but it was specifically designed to be more energetic than its predecessor.

Those with DP6 experience can be more specific about how that arm responds. If the damping fluid is that difficult to remove I'd start with no fluid at all. Put at least 100 hours on everything. The cartridge at least will change over that time so real fine tuning is pointless. Once everything has broken in you might add tiny amounts while you listen for changes. Still, less is often more with this stuff.

Thanks, Doug. When Chris and I took the DP6 and ZYX cartridge out for a test run on his Model 255, the tonearm had zero silicone damping in it and the system sounded really good. I will take your advice and leave the pivot point chamber without silicone fluid in it.

I hope to finish the turntable set up tonight so I can start listening to my vinyl again. :-D

Holly

Hopefully Raul or someone else who uses the DP-6 will step up and give you experienced, hands-on guidance. I know Morch cautions agains overdamping, thus my caution.

We prefer no damping in the trough of our TriPlanar, but the mechanisms are completely different so that means little to you. If the Morch acts at all like a Graham 2.2 then some amount of damping will be beneficial. It may be very touchy though, and very tiny additions or deletions are audible.

Once concern is that different cartridges may prefer different damping. This is actually pretty likely. If you had two armwands and two widely different cartridges, you might have trouble optiizing for both.

But all that is way in the future. Glad to hear you're about ready to spin again. Go party!

Hi there,
No experience of the Morch but after to speaking to the designer, I decided to try damping fluid once more in my Kuzma Stogi S.
Initial attempts lead me to use it undamped with my zyx Airy 11.
Other changes to the system have made it a lot more transparent and the zyx, at least in my system, seems to work much better across the board with damping applied.
Still very,very dynamic with better control and much tighter bass. Nitpicking it might have rolled of the top end a bit but the fluid is a pain to work with so not keen to start experimenting with the amount in the trough.
I would try it undamped then add the fluid in stages.

Simon

Dear Holly: I try my Dp-6 with severals cartridges. I always use it with out vertical damping: it works wonderfull on that way. I talk directly with the designer and he agree that this tonearm don't need that vertical damping.

This tonearm is a great design and great execution design. No, you don't need that extra damping.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.