"Serge Auckland" wrote in
message

Interesting theories. Can you tell me a bit more as to
why a compliance of 10-12cu is sufficient for all
records?

It has to do with the mass of the element that tracks the groove and the
compliance of the vinyl.

Interesting that in vinyl's heyday, some
cartridges were providing 30-40 cu.

Static compliance is really mostly a low frequency effect. Low frequency
tracking isn't much of an issue. Tracking high frequencies is a big issue.

It could be a
marketing exercise rather than having a sound engineering
reason for it, but it would be useful to know why such
high compliances are not necessary.

They were just numbers for the sake of numbers.