Please Help T3F problems

I wonder if Frank Kuzma was copying the Goldmund Studio when he designed the Stabi M. Remarkably similar tables. 

You have got to be joking.

Goldmund is direct drive, Kuzma belt drive

Goldmund has conventional bearing, Kuzma has inverted.

Goldmund has conventional thrust pad/ball, Kuzma has ruby ball

Goldmund has sprung suspension, Kuzma has non sprung damped suspension

The only commonality is that they are both turntables, and black in colour.

Clearly you know nothing about these turntables and I very much doubt you have actually seen either.

@scotchboy 

Actually you should not add mass to the Ittok headshell if you run the Koetsu Onyx on the Ittok.

I had a customer with Linn/Sumiko MDC800/Koetsu Onyx Gold - sounded superb.

The MDC800 is only 11g effective mass.

The Ittok LVII is 13.5g effective mass.

The Onyx is quite heavy at 12.5g, ( most of the Linn cartridges are around 7g ) and adding further mass to the Ittok headshell with the Onyx installed will degrade the sound. If anything you might need a heavier counterweight to optimise the sound by running the counterweight closer to the pivot.

So - if you want to run the Ittok/Onyx - just install as is.

Be careful, the Onyx bodies are easily cracked - do not do the bolts up too tight - just a gentle pinch.

Throw the T3F away and mounted an Eminent Technology ET2.5 instead.

The ET will last a lifetime and is very reliable - I've heard both on a Goldmund - the ET is a big improvement over the Goldmund arm.

Alternatively go to a pivoted arm - something like the Kuzma 4point9 would be a big improvement also over the T3F.

@scotchboy 

Yeah Ivor was pretty funny. The Ittoks have "soft bearings" and they recommended taking the arm off to install a cartridge so the bearings don't get damaged. Now I know why. Actually the Ittok is underrated - it does work with a wide variety of cartridges, assuming it is in good condition.