Musical involvement?

o4rdking: +++++ " What makes a tonearm/cart combo sound less involving? " +++++

IMHO a very wide question but between other things: a un-matched cartridge/tonearm, a mis-match.

regards and enjoy the music.
raul.

"Assuming meticulously set up".........

Mismatched complaince of cartridge and mass of arm.

Stylus shape, for example line stylus types, vs elliptical, vs conical types. The former can give very precise information not available with conical. But in general use the conical is more forgiving especially of VTA variances due to record thicknesses. Elliptical is a good compromise.

Oh, the obvious - cartridge design, but that is no different than between anything in the system. Most stuff sounds different due to subtle changes in design. Some times not so subtle.

Sounds like a PRAT question to me...

If it is really well set up, meaning that you don't have a genuine mis-match, I would say you just don't like the cartridge or the arm or both. I find too much anti-skate can make things seems less involving, so you might check what method you are using for that.