Does 21g seem high for effective tonearm mass?


Hi there, I've been looking into these somewhat popular Jeclo tonearms. Actually the 10" liquid dampend unit SA-750e. I've got an email from Jelco and the effective mass is 21grams. Does this not seem shockingly high compared to nearly everything else on the market these days?
I plan to mount a Sumiko Celebration on it but I'm not so sure about the match. It seems this arm may be limited to cartridge choice and that would be too bad.
If anyone can shed some light on this it would be appreciated.
My other options for arms of course would be the Rega/moths, Hadcock and I can get a pretty good deal on a VPI classic arm.
This wasn't supposed to be confusing at all as I was taking a step away from my ET2 and trying to simplify my setup. Now it seems I've opened a can of worms
alun

Showing 2 responses by lewm

To my way of thinking, 21 grams is in the range of "high mass", not "medium mass". Medium mass is more like 10 to 15 grams, IMO. Of course, to some degree it is a matter of opinion. In any case, 21 grams is not stratospherically high. Most notably, the well-liked (by some) Fidelity Research FR64 and 66 are much higher in mass. And some have mated the FR tonearms with relatively high compliance cartridges and report good results. You can easily find headshells that weigh as little as 6-8 grams, so as to effect a reduction in effective mass for the Jelco. But like Raul says, it is best to keep an open mind; don't be a slave to those formulae for mating compliance to effective mass.
IMO, you don't want the tonearm to "control" the cartridge. You want the tonearm to allow the cartridge to ride as smoothly as possible through the curvaceous and treacherous grooves of an LP, without bouncing out. At the same time, the tonearm should not impede the cartridge. It's a tricky deal.