You tonearm effective moving mass is .... ?
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Is the Charisma 103 another one of those modified DL103s? If so, I would look elsewhere, if you want a really different experience. You can only flog that old horse so many times. I have no idea at all about a Grado Sonata, so can't help there, but if you are fixed on these two, I would go with the Grado just because. If it's suitable for your tonearm, as Chakster implies. |
There are much better cartridges than Grado available for your tonearm. But using low compliance DL-103 on Rega is just a demonstration that you don't understand tonearm/cartridge matching theory, read here. And your dealer too. |
@cub Here's a fairly straightforward guide to determining whether a cartridge will work well with your tonearm. https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge_resonance_evaluator.php You will just need to enter the effective mass of your tonearm (the Rega RB330 is 11 grams). You'll see a chart pop up. Then, you need to look at the specs of to get the weight and dynamic compliance of the cartridge(s) you are considering. The Denon 103r weighs 8.5 grams and has a (very low) compliance of 5 (this is listed as "5 x 10-6 cm/dyne". If you look at the chart, you will see that this combination falls well outside of the optimal range. Hope that helps, and feel free to ask more questions. There are a lot of experienced audiophiles on Audiogon, and many are very generous with their knowledge. Cheers, Scott |
@cub, here go. Perfect for your arm and also British. https://www.whathifi.com/us/goldring/1042/review It is certainly "fiddly" to install. Put the screws in from underneath and the bolts on top. Makes it a lot easier. This cartridge punches way above its price point, $600. It is very close to the Clearaudio Charisma at $2000! The Audio Technica VM760SLC at $650 is another good choice but I prefer the Goldring. |
@ozzy62 Looking at it again, I suspect that the compliance listed for the Denon is a 100hz measurement (often used by Japanese cartridge makers). The chart on vinylengine uses the standard 10hz. So if the Denon was measured at 100hz, the basic conversion to 10 hz would be in the range of 1.5-2 times the 100hz compliance**. Even with this conversion, a compliance of 7.5-10 would still put the Denon out of the optimal range (but a bit closer) for the Rega tonearm. The Denon has a very low compliance, and therefore will be a better match with slightly heavier tonearm. **Note that I took this general rule from a discussion on Vinylengine. There are more precise mathematical ways of doing the conversion. |
Thanks, I don’t understand. Give me some suggestions for the Rega RB 330 tone arm that would match well in the $750.00 range. Ok, SONY XL-50 with Boron Pipe cantilever and Hyper-Elliptical stylus tip. Excellent MM cartridge if you can find NOS sample with genuine stylus. It was one of a few top MM from SONY in the 80’s. You can also look for new mid compliance Garrott P77i (price in AUD), this is stunning latest version of the legendary P77 from Garrott Brothers. |
