"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Keith G
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote


Anyway, rightly or wrongly (and never having had a *low mass* tonearm to
worry about), I have always been under the impression that the
(medium-high mass) tonearm will usually take care of unwanted
'resonances' and that the headshell (with or without a blob of Blu Tack
and a handful of pound coins) will take care of any (HF?) misbehaviour
from within the cartridge itself??

No, I'm afraid that isn't so simple, either! :-)


Well, *there's* a surprise!! :-)

(Didn't really think it was that simple, but then I've never stuck Blu Tack
or anything else to a headshell yet - the tongue *was* in the cheek!! :-)



snip potty putty observations - all very interesting


Maybe they are operating (as I do) under the banner 'if you can't really
hear it, it don't really matter'...??


The problem is when the designer decides that what *they* can't hear *I*
won't notice either. They could be wrong. Particularly in a world where
they can't dictate what arm and preamp and LPs you choose. Hence the value
of the designer doing measurements and having a clue about the
engineering.
Lets them assess how likely it is that a percentage of customers will find
their design is crap for their use.


I think there is some onus on the user to pick a suitable tonearm/cartridge
combination for his own purposes or stick with manufacturer's
recommendations in the case of 'consumer' gear. It is important to keep a
perspective - over the last half century or so a lot of people have had a
lot of pleasure listening to records without getting their panties in a
bunch* over the Modulus Of Anything!!

When I call up some of the blindingly lovely sounds I've heard even very
recently on vinyl, I do have to conclude that the designers and
manufacturers do, in the main, pull off a fabulous job and very cheaply if
one buys wisely - if I had to drop back to nothing more extravagant than,
say, an AT110E MM cart on an auto-return Technics DD deck for the rest of my
days I wouldn't complain!!

Last night I played an old Columbia record for (I suspect/am fairly sure)
its very first time - goes to grab camera....

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/Columbia.jpg

....and I was (yet again) blown back by the sheer power and loveliness of the
sound from it! (It's a wonder these things don't explode from all the
pent-up energy over a period of time!! :-)

Anyway, you will be pleased to know that it played very well all the way
through (only a few pops here and there like there was a coal fire in the
room) right up until the *big finish* when it let go fairly bigtime and the
(HF) sound was very distorted for a second or so - I thought of you! ;-)



'10's of kHz' definitely qualify as above - is there any 'side effect'
that I should know about?

Higher distortion. Clicks more noticable. Mistracking. Increased wear.


OK, nobbut good news then? :-)



*Don't see these old Usenet terms very often these days, do you? :-)

LOL!!

(Oops...)