Micro Seiki BL91

I'd been wondering about the Soundsmith cartridges. A local dealer recently started offering them and now an owner of a BL-91 suggests them. Must be a sign. I'm not familiar with the MA500II though. Is it similar to the MA505II? Thanks for the tip Roy. And do you suggest a certain model?

Have a look at the latest cartridges from Soundsmith (www.sound-smith.com). They work wonderfully in my BL-91/MA-500II and seem more musical, more fluid in their dynamics than most other cartridges I have used. Also, they are extremely quiet in the groove, and have proper tone balance.

Best regards,
Roy Johnson
Designer
Green Mountain Audio

it took me 6 month to get excellent sound from MA-505 II tonearm.
I think that main culprit was the headshell. Not the original Micro Seiki, not Technics and Sumiko 12gr worked fine. Until I found the Audio Technica 12 gr headshell from 80s (current closest product is Audio Technica AT-LH13/OCC). With this headshell Signet TK10ML II gives robust, complete sound with great soundstage and resolution.

There is a chart on Vinyl Engine but it is fairly simple: high compliance= low mass arms, low compliance= high mass arms. There is not the range there use to be when compliance ran up to fifty or higher and down to five or so. In general, MM have had higher compliance than MC but this is not a rigid rule. The point is to keep the resonance point of the arm- cartridge system from going too high or too low. Check for that chart and if you don't find it email me and I'll look it up, glad to answer any questions. I have been setting up tables since 1962 and selling them for a good part of that time so have considerable practical experience. If the mass of your arm is in the 15 gram range it is useable with most current cartridges, Denons are good , the 103 and 110 are excellent bargains. I am not a Denon dealer. Stan

Nealw-Thanks for the info. I'm glad to hear you like the Leben phono. I'm looking forward to auditioning one once I get this TT set up.

Stanwal-Thanks for your advice about arm mass and cart compliance. I've been poring over the numbers and they make me dizzy. I'm not sure I have the clearest grasp of what it all means. Maybe I should rely on professional assistance.

Hevac1-The nice gentleman I purchased my BL91 tells me he misses it too. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get it going since I bought it in February.

I miss my BL-91. I used a Carnagie 1 and 2 at the time but my arm was a SME.

I use to sell Micro and used a 91 myself back then, still a very good table, hate to think what it would cost now. My only advice would be to check the arm mass and cartridge compliance to avoid a mismatch.

I owned a Micro Seiki BL10x which i think had the same arm. the best combo i had was with the dynavector 17D karat, really excellent combo. i tried others - grados, xx2 and zyx but the karat stands out some heavenly match with the arm. i have the leben phono stage and it is wonderful use bent audio step up.