Tone arm resonance and cartridge compliance: How do they interact??


I read many years ago about the importance of tonearm resonance. How does that affect sound quality, and also cartridge compliance  How do you determine tonearm /cartridge compatibility??


Thanks,

S.J.

sunnyjim

Showing 3 responses by mijostyn

10+ chakster. Forget about equations. Use the darn record!
 It is always best to start with a light tonearm. It is easy to add mass, much harder to take it away. You want to get your resonance point between 8 and 10 Hz for the best bass. When the cartridge gets to the resonance frequency you will see it start to bounce. You simply add mass until you get the resonance frequency down where you want it. There are head shell weights and Soundsmith sells a set of graduated head shell screws that are brilliant.
Effect. If the resonance frequency is too low the tonearm can bounce into the air when it hits a warp. Too high and your bass performance declines and you invite acoustic feedback. When you turn the volume up the system starts to howl. 
The different size counterweights are supplied so you can counterbalance different weight (mass) cartridges. You can not control resonance with different mass counterweights because once the cartridge is balanced you wind up with the same effective mass regardless of counter weight mass.
Now Raul, unless you are blind measuring resonance points with a test record is painfully easy. Your comment would leave me to believe that you have never set up a cartridge correctly.
The problem with calculations is that there is enough variation in tonearms and cartridges that the published specs may be off a little.
The record tells you what is really happening. But the resonance is not a sharp peak. It is a bell curve. The point where the cartridge starts bouncing is what you pay attention to. You know you are close when you hear the warble. Using the test record also gives you an idea of how severe the resonance point is. Some combinations barely move at the resonance point while with others the cartridge almost goes air born in which case it might have to be changed. I suspect it is a matter of damping.
Moment of inertia is different then effective mass. Longer heavier arms have higher moments of inertia. This really only creates issues following warps. If records are stored correctly very few should be significantly warped. Vacuum hold down and reflex clamping solve the problem under any circumstance.