Probably, there is no "best"..... only personal favorites. I've been spinning records on an early TD124 (sn 2729) with three different arms and a few different cartridges.
Apart from the arms and cartridges, I should point out that the turntable became a lot more interesting after I had upgraded the motor mounts from mk1 to a mkII configuration. This made a significant difference in signal/noise ratio and the amount of fine detail this TT can reproduce.
The first arm I tried was an Expressimo modified Rega RB250 tonearm. I had a Denon Dl103R mounted to that. Then I made some mods to the Denon to get more SQ out of it. Ebony body. Then a SS ruby cantilever/Fineline styus. I fiddled around with headweights to get the mass higher on the Rega to suit the Denon. I enjoyed that setup quite a lot.
Then I tried, just for kicks, a Graham 2.2 tonearm with Ortofon Jubilee MC cartridge. I had the Graham on a Teres 145, and just wanted to know if the arm would "work" on a TD124. It was pretty good. It certainly looked a lot deeper into the groove and extracted more detail than did the RB250/DL103R setup. But it was also quite a bit more "polite" sounding. Not as forward as before. A lesser "jump factor" if you will. So I took the Graham / Jubilee off.
Then I tried a Zeta tonearm that had the wires upgraded with an Incognito harness. I used the wood bodied DL-103R on that for a few years. And was happy. Nearly as much detail retrieval as with the Graham, but with an excellent "jump factor" and energy delivery. Life was good.
Then I managed to find someone who could re-furbish my Shelter 501-II cartridge. After getting the Shelter back I put that on the Zeta. Oh boy! Another couple of levels better than with the Dl-103R. And that nice midrange. But energy levels were higher than with the Denon, as was detail retrieval. Good stuff.
Then, one day, I wondered about trying the Graham 2.2 again. Only this time, use the Shelter. An hour later I had that up and working. this time, not so polite. Good "jump factor". Excellent energy delivery. Detail retrieval is the best I've heard. Glorious intimate mid-range. Best yet.
Future plans:
I have an SP10 mkII project in the works. The Graham/Shelter will go on that. Once the dust has settled I will turn back to the Thorens and look into doing a proper 12 inch arm and SPU cartridge. I haven't decided on the arm yet, but popular opinion favors the Schick tonearm. Reasonable priced with excellent reviews all over the web. And the arm was made for SPU hook up. So that just may be my path over the next few years.
For me, I always need to keep trying new combinations. Especially when they take me further toward audio nirvana. :-)
-Steve
