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Morch DP6 and vertical damping - pros & cons??

I am setting up my tonearm, a Morch DP6. The instructions that come with it tell you how to add the included silicone fluid for vertical damping (at the pivot point) but also mention that this might not be a good thing to do (can't remember the exact wording.) The instructions do not say why you might not want to add the fluid to the pivot point. Can anyone tell me why or why not the vertical damping should be used? Does it effect the sonics in a possibly negative way, or....? I will be using the arm on a Teres 160 turntable with the basic ZYX cartridge, R100H.

Once the fluid is in there, it looks as if it would be nearly impossible to remove, so I would like to make an informed decision about whether or not I should use it.

Thanks,

Holly
oakiris

Showing 2 responses by dougdeacon

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Hi Holly,

I haven't used a DP6 or R100H, but I have heard four other ZYX models on various tonearms. Minimal or zero damping has often sounded best. As a rule, most ZYX models seem to be pretty well damped internally. The Airy 3 is an exception, but it was specifically designed to be more energetic than its predecessor.

Those with DP6 experience can be more specific about how that arm responds. If the damping fluid is that difficult to remove I'd start with no fluid at all. Put at least 100 hours on everything. The cartridge at least will change over that time so real fine tuning is pointless. Once everything has broken in you might add tiny amounts while you listen for changes. Still, less is often more with this stuff.
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Hopefully Raul or someone else who uses the DP-6 will step up and give you experienced, hands-on guidance. I know Morch cautions agains overdamping, thus my caution.

We prefer no damping in the trough of our TriPlanar, but the mechanisms are completely different so that means little to you. If the Morch acts at all like a Graham 2.2 then some amount of damping will be beneficial. It may be very touchy though, and very tiny additions or deletions are audible.

Once concern is that different cartridges may prefer different damping. This is actually pretty likely. If you had two armwands and two widely different cartridges, you might have trouble optiizing for both.

But all that is way in the future. Glad to hear you're about ready to spin again. Go party!
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