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Silicone fluid for Moerch tonearm damping?

I have never tried to add silicone fluid to the tonearm well on my Moerch DP-6 tonearm, just used it for the pickup lifter, but have been told that it might help me with the new cartridge I will be getting, a Denon DL-103. The Moerch tonearm (blue dot) at 14 grams is a bit less than the effective mass that the Denon cartridge prefers and I was told that damping the tonearm might help with tracking and just make the whole set up sound better. I am willing to give this a try, but I seem to have misplaced the container of silicone 'fluid' that came with the tonearm and can't find any specs about what actual fluid was recommended by Moerch.

Does anyone know what weight of silicone fluid (oil?) should be used for the Moerch tonearms? Turntable Basics sells damping fluid, but I need to know which weight would be best.

(FYI, I did email Moerch about this, but haven't received an answer (someone told me I am not likely to ever get an answer from them. :-( ) and I also emailed Sorasound, the USA distributor, but received a "canned" response from Mehran saying he was in Belgium until near the end of the month and that I should email him again at that time.)
oakiris
rpfef
110 posts
 
I fear this suggestion is a bit old fashioned but I find the technique works pretty well most of the time.
Use your phone. Seven seven three/ seven ought six/nine seven zero five.
oakiris OP
206 posts
 
lol - I hate using the phone because I am tied to it all day by my work, plus I like to have the "paper trail" made possible by emails. But, point taken - if I decide I want to go through with damping the tone arm and I can't live without finding out exactly what Moerch uses, I will call Mehran. :-P

Holly
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
Just save yourself the hassle of calling Mehran, buying the fluid, waiting for it to arrive, installing it into the arm cavity, waiting for it to settle, evaluating the change in sound, then taking it all out again to just get back where you started.

IMO, of course.
oakiris OP
206 posts
 
lol - I agree with you, Ptmconsulting. I won't go through the hassle until I actually know if the tonearm needs the damping fluid. I didn't realize it would end up being a hassle when I started this thread, of course. I was sure someone here would know exactly what weight of fluid/oil was required, just as I was sure that either Mehran or Moerch or both would respond to me quickly with the information.

I am planning to first try the set up with no tonearm damping and take some time to really listen to what the DL-103 and Moerch tonearm sound like together. I am hopeful that the system sounds just fine without me having to experiment with tonearm damping.

Holly
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