A surprising lesson on compatibility
So I've been running the Miyajima shilabe for a good 2 months now and decided I wanted to try my Allaerts again. My 12" Siggwan arm at 14g had been beefed up to 22g thanks to Steve and two lovely brass saddles/collars. I removed one of the collars but so liked the other I left it in place thinking what can 3g do?
So in goes the Allaerts and a couple of days run in. Finally sitting down to listen properly I was shocked. First it sounded very like the Miyajima in tone, and the wonderful separation and detail retrieval wasn't what I remembered. I was confused. Then I removed the collar - rebalanced the arm and sat back to listen. The stunning cart I was used to was back in all its glory.
A measly 3g extra mass had transformed a truly wonderful cart into an average performer - I'll be more careful in future.
Technics SP10 mk2
Jan Allaerts MC 1 Boron mk1 cart
Miyajima Shilabe cart
Hashimoto HM-X SUT
Siggwan (gimballed not unipivot) Cocobola 12"
Aurorasound Vida LCR Phonostage
The Truth linestage
Dave Slagle Autoformer Volume Controller
Cary 805c SET amps
Audio Note ANe-SPX speakers
Townshend Isolda speaker cables
Cardas Golden Presence interconnects