Originally Posted by
Infinitely Baffled
"The SME M2-9R arm has an effective mass of 9.5g. The Decca Gold has a mass of 6.7g and a dynamic compliance of 12cu in the horizontal plane and 5cu in the vertical plane. The calculated arm/cartridge resonant frequencies are 11.4Hz and 14.9Hz respectively. These are on the high side but not disastrous. Ideally you would want the two resonance frequencies to ‘straddle’ 10Hz. This means you would need to increase the total mass to ~ 30g, an increase of 13.6g."
Nifty calculating! Thanks for this, Barry. I am thrilled to bits with the prospect of getting the Decca cartridge working right in the SME arm. Sometimes on certain kinds of music it hits the spot so well that you could swear it's the only cartridge you'll ever need. But then, of course, curiosity takes over ...
However, for the moment, I will aim for a way of adding thirteen and a half gms of weight to the headshell. The GB clamp is handy in this regard, but what a price to buy one new! And the suppliers insist on fitting it themselves, possibly to justify the hefty cost. I have a slotted headshell on its way to me in the post which weighs more than the SME item, so that's a start. (By the way, how come SME think it is possible to set up an arm/cartridge without a slotted headshell or sliding carrier of some description? With fixed holes for the cartridge bolts there is no way of setting the stylus overhang without also changing the spindle-to-pivot distance. Very odd!) Many thanks for help. Cheers. Gary.