Ortofon A95

Dear @jw944ts : That's a great performer and the best is to follow the Ortofon advise, you don't need to stay out of Ortofon specs.

You can test different VTF/VTA/SRA parameters but always inside the VTF range Ortofon gives.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

any thoughts about effective tonearm mass?

Start with the compliance of the cartridge at 10Hz and work backward using the formula for resonant frequency that is available on-line.  You cannot assume that you are getting an exact result for your own system, from the formula, but it will certainly put you in the right ballpark for tonearm effective mass.  That would be my advice.

Dear @jw944ts : You have not problem with the Graham 11grs. and the A95 in reference as its resonance frequency combination: 11hz.

Where you have a problem is that the 1.5 model is an unipivot design and really unstable when the A95 as other top LOMC cartridges asking for dead stability. If you want to know the real quality performance levels in your cartridge you need something like the SME V or Kuzma 4point or even Reed one.

R.

thx @ lewm, but I was actually wondering if my tonearm was a good match....

thx @rauliuregas;  besides the unipivot concern, how about the mating of this same arm with the Allnic Amber?...some have recommended adding heavier than normal screws to attach the cartridge....

Great cartridge!  jw944ts. My first Porsche was a 1986 944 Turbo in Guards Red:)

The A95 has a compliance of 13 um/mN 

Resonance frequency = 159 divided by the square root of ( total effective mass  X Compliance)

You add together the effective mass of the arm with the weight of the cartridge and screws to give you the total effective mass.

You want the resonance frequency between 8 and 12 Hz. I suspect your arm may be a little on the light side but you can always add mass. You can figure out how much with this equation. The best way of determining what you actually have is by hooking an oscilloscope up to your phono stage and by using a test record with resonance band you can easily see the peak. Most of us just keep a careful eye on the cartridge watching for the tell tale shake and listening for the tone to warble. 

Soundsmith makes a neat set of cartridge screw or various masses so you can adjust the effective mass of your arm.

thx @mijostyn....mine was 1988 944 turbo S, color called, amusingly, "Maraschino", a burgundy metallic...beautiful...I modified HEAVILY(here we call that "tweeked") for the track...a great track  performer!!