Cartridge and arm synergy

[farflungstar]

Not quite the usual compliance/resonance question but a little different.

Having just ordered a Miyajima Shilabe from Hugo at Ammonite Audio I'm wondering how it will like my Elementum/Siggwan 12" tonearm.

Effective mass is 15g and I've asked Steve at Magna Audio to make me a nice brass headshell weight to bring the effective mass up to 18/19g. But this raises a question...

Is it better to put a brass weight between the African Blackwood Miyajima and the Cocobola Siggwan headshell/armwand - or directly couple the two types of wood and use a weight either above the headshell or have a 'collar' made instead?

Would the direct coupling of wood be too much of a good thing?

Any thoughts guys...

Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[YNWaN]

You can't separate cartridge and arm synergy in the way you suggest because the arm termination - the turntable - plays at least an equal part (quite possibly the greatest part of the whole).

[farflungstar]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. My question is more about best method for transmission of energy from the cart into the headshell, arm and finally the base. As both the cart/headshell and wand are wood (though of different hardnesses) would transmission of energy be best with wood coupled to wood, or with a brass shim/weight between the two...

Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[Jazid]

Not sure why you want to couple the cart to the headshell and hence the plinth. Better isolated I would think? With this in mind I would suggest using a piece of lead roof flashing as an interface between cart and headshell. Pleasantly affordable and likely better sounding than random wooden headshells.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

[farflungstar]

Errr arent all carts coupled via screws to their headshell, arm, base plinth...?


Ok I'm obviously not explaining myself very well.

Here is a a pic of my arm. It is a wooden wand and headshell (that's the way it is).



The Allaerts in the photo is going in for an upgrade and the miyajima is to do stand in duty for the 6-8 months I will be without the allaerts.

The miyajima is also wood bodied.

My tonearm is 15g effective mass but the miyajima likes 18g. So like it or not I need to add a little mass - hence a headshell weight or collar.

My question is simple - carts throw energy into the armwand etc - would coupling the cart and wooden headshell be better than placing a brass weight/shim between them - if so I'll get a small collar made to fit behind the headshell.

Simple....

Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[mac72]

I would place brass shim in-between cartridge and headshell ,this way you're directly coupling materials with different self resonant frequencies , hence avoiding any resonant interaction between the two.

[farflungstar]

That's what I was thinking...
Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[mac72]

I might be wrong , though, try and see what you like better, vinyl reproduction is so flawed in many ways and logic sometimes doesn't apply , that's why we love it you can shape sound to your liking.

[Ammonite Audio]

A logical approach would be to use the collar, but have it made so that it can be placed anywhere along the length of the armtube. That way you get fully adjustable effective mass.

[topoxforddoc]

The Allaerts in the photo is going in for an upgrade and the miyajima is to do stand in duty for the 6-8 months I will be without the allaerts.

Adey,

What's Jan going to do to your Allaerts? When I needed a retip and check up on my MC1B a few years ago, I was very surprised at the quick turnaround.

Charlie