Matching Cartridge + Headshell + Tonearm combination


My general question is, if a tonearm works optimum with15g weight for cartridge+headshell, any combination of weights would be OK? For example, 5g+10g, 6g+9g, 7g+8g, ..., 10g+5g of cartridges and headshells would all work well?

I am going to have Denon DA307. The catalog says the cartridge range is 5g-10g with the PCL5 headshell (6g). My specific question is, would DA307 work well with 9g headshell with 2g-7g cartridges? (Well, I know almost all cartridges weigh more than 5g)
Thanks.

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You can use whatever you want until you can balance the arm, do you know what i mean ?
Yes, I do. That’s the simple part.
For more information read this!
Thanks for the link. This is the hard part.
I’ve seen similar Math behind the calculation of compliance and other related material, but they are too much for me now. Never good at Math.

But I generally understand the concept of low compliance/high mass and high compliance/low mass relationship.
Anyway, with some more reading, I’ve concluded that the Denon DA307 arm will work very well with the PCL3 headshell and DL-103r cartridge. Now I can settle in peace and spend more time on listening than wandering around.
Thanks again.


You can use whatever you want until you can balance the arm, do you know what i mean ? If you can’t balance the arm with counterweight then headshell/cartridge combo is too heavy.

Cartridge compliance and tonearm effective mass is another story, it’s not just weight of the cartridge and headshell, it’s about dynamic compliance of the cartridge at 10Hz and tonearm effective mass including the shell, cartridge weight and screws.

For more information read this!

Thanks @lewm .
The DA307 arm will come with PCL3 headshell (8.5g), and I was wondering about cartridge choices.
You said "in terms of resonant frequency." Is there any other factor to be considered in this tonearm/headshell/cartridge combination?
Pardon me if you had answered millions times before for this question.

It appears that with PCL3, I cannot use my Denon DL103R (8.5g), AT150mlx (8.3g), and Ortofon MC20 super (9g), but I can use my Ortofon MC 100 (5.3g) and SL15 (7g).
Probably it would be better to use PCL5 headshell to support other cartridges.