Slowhand,
I have a JMW 10 tonearm and a Shelter 501 II. I purchased both new about 4 years ago. I am not knowledgable about electronics so I did not know anything about compliance and impedence matching. But I have learned from posts by TWL and others that the duo probably is not the best match because of the physics.
Some experiments performed with my setup proved interesting. I placed a very small washer (.85 grams) on top of the head of the tonearm. Since the top of the head is perfectly flat, the washer rests nicely there. The washer is too big to fit between the two bolts that anchor the cartridge to the tonearm. So I just pushed the washer up against the two bolt heads, thinking that would center the weight of the washer on the tonearm.
The results? Excellent and not subtle! The upper mids and treble become very rich and full and more resonant. I was surprised at how much difference the little washer made. One thing I learned is that I had to use blue tack under the washer. Without the blue tack, the sound was much more muffled. I wonder if the blue tack served as a dampener to keep the washer from vibrating against the tonearm head? It is amazing to me how sensitive the head end of the tonearm is.
Of course, the counterweight must be moved backwards to rebalance the tonearm so that the Vertical Tracking Force can be maintained at 1.4 to 1.8 grams. No doublt you can fine tune the VTF more accurately by ear if so inclined.
I plan to experiment next with adding more weight by using a larger washer. I do have one concern that adding weight to the top of the tonearm head may cause instability. If there were a way to add weight down lower near the stylus, the center of gravity would be much lower and hence less tippy. But I have not figured out a place to conveniently add more weight. I do not pretend to know why this experiment worked, but the results are clearly positive.
Good luck with your search.
Jon
I have a JMW 10 tonearm and a Shelter 501 II. I purchased both new about 4 years ago. I am not knowledgable about electronics so I did not know anything about compliance and impedence matching. But I have learned from posts by TWL and others that the duo probably is not the best match because of the physics.
Some experiments performed with my setup proved interesting. I placed a very small washer (.85 grams) on top of the head of the tonearm. Since the top of the head is perfectly flat, the washer rests nicely there. The washer is too big to fit between the two bolts that anchor the cartridge to the tonearm. So I just pushed the washer up against the two bolt heads, thinking that would center the weight of the washer on the tonearm.
The results? Excellent and not subtle! The upper mids and treble become very rich and full and more resonant. I was surprised at how much difference the little washer made. One thing I learned is that I had to use blue tack under the washer. Without the blue tack, the sound was much more muffled. I wonder if the blue tack served as a dampener to keep the washer from vibrating against the tonearm head? It is amazing to me how sensitive the head end of the tonearm is.
Of course, the counterweight must be moved backwards to rebalance the tonearm so that the Vertical Tracking Force can be maintained at 1.4 to 1.8 grams. No doublt you can fine tune the VTF more accurately by ear if so inclined.
I plan to experiment next with adding more weight by using a larger washer. I do have one concern that adding weight to the top of the tonearm head may cause instability. If there were a way to add weight down lower near the stylus, the center of gravity would be much lower and hence less tippy. But I have not figured out a place to conveniently add more weight. I do not pretend to know why this experiment worked, but the results are clearly positive.
Good luck with your search.
Jon