[howiebrou]

Guys I have a Grado Master reference cartridge for my newly aquired demo avid acutus turntable and now need a tonearm. I was intending to get a SME V arm but have heard compatibility problems (compliance, weight etc) all of which I don't really understand.

I found a resonance calculator on the web where you plug in the cartridge wt, tonearm effective mass, compliance etc and it came out as 8.6 which I think is meant to be okay??

I am new to TT so would appreciate any thoughts. The reason for the grado is i need a high output for my tube phonostage and grados are said to have very nice highs and mid-ranges which should be great for vocals etc.

An email to grado said 14g tonearm is good. An email to SME said no prob. An email to Avid said try the Rega SB 1000

I am coompletely confused.

howie

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by howiebrou /img/forum/go_quote.gif Guys I have a Grado Master reference cartridge for my newly aquired demo avid acutus turntable and now need a tonearm. I was intending to get a SME V arm but have heard compatibility problems (compliance, weight etc) all of which I don't really understand. I found a resonance calculator on the web where you plug in the cartridge wt, tonearm effective mass, compliance etc and it came out as 8.6 which I think is meant to be okay?? I am new to TT so would appreciate any thoughts. The reason for the grado is i need a high output for my tube phonostage and grados are said to have very nice highs and mid-ranges which should be great for vocals etc. An email to grado said 14g tonearm is good. An email to SME said no prob. An email to Avid said try the Rega SB 1000 I am coompletely confused.

An enviable source of confusion. Lucky you

I checked your figues. Grado list the compliance as 20cu and SME list the effective mass of the V as 10-11g so with the table results at http://www.cartridgedb.com/ your calculations sound about right.

http://www.cartridgedb.com/resonance...ass=6&ccomp=20

This is the resonant frequency of the cartridge / arm combination. Between 8-11hz is optimal. Lower and it's getting nearer to the frequency of the turntables main bearing and any higher it's getting further into audible range which you clearly don't want.

Compliance is a measure of the springiness of the carts suspension. Effective mass is the mass of the tonearm in motion. SME describe how they designed the V on their website http://www.sme.ltd.uk/ which makes interesting reading.

I'd certainly take the SME V over any Rega tonearm. It's far superior. you can read a review of the SME IV which is a less deluxe version of the V here http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/smeiv_e.html

The V even has silicone damping tray which allows you to make fine adjustments to the amount of cartridge damping applied on the fly ! I wouldn't fret. This is one hell of a way to get into vinyl.

 

[howiebrou]

Thanks Memepool. Will check out your links. I agree the SME appears to be the "Gold Standard" of tonearms!

howie

 

[randerson3024]

Check out this website for more cartridge information:

http://www.cartridgedb.com/main.asp

Nice system.

 

[Zanth]

I use the SME V and have used Grado two different wood-bodied carts in my system, the platinum and the sonata. I'm saving my pennies for the reference or the statement. I love the sound of the SME V with the Grados (even the plastic bodied Silver was amazing in my system).