I have a Technics SP-15 turntable with a Grace 707 arm and a Grace F9E cartridge with a Soundsmith new stylus. This combination sounds great but is limiting. The 707 tonearm has a fixed headshell and it does not allow me to easily swap other MM high compliance catridges or match compliance requirments MC cartridges. Suggestions welcome from those more expert than I.
My suggestion is avoid connections wherever possible, especially with cartridge output. This means no removable headshells, or armwands, or interconnects. This one thing alone will get you more performance for your audiophile dollar than anything else. Except maybe Nobsound springs. But those you have to buy. This is something you don’t buy. So even better.
I am in the minority in saying this, but forget compliance. Pay attention to cartridge output, as that is important to be able to work with your phono stage. Pay attention to sound quality, as that is what you will actually hear. Compliance however is purely technical and more often than not used as an excuse to blame rather than accept the fact arms and cartridges do not all sound the same. But if you are careful to select arms known for good sound, regardless of the cartridge, and cartridges with good sound regardless of the arm, then you can avoid all that. I have done it like that and never have paid any attention to compliance and that goes back to the 1970’s.
Look for Technics EPA-100 tonearm, It’s 10.5 inch tonearm, one of the best you can buy for your SP-15, they are often available on ebay (in perfect condition) from the Japanese sellers.
You can also look for a Technics Epa 250 multipurpose, on-the-fly adjustment for this arm too saving several dollars compared to the Epa 100 .... the natural match with the SP15
Elliott, the Technics EPA tonearm guru is a fellow that goes by JP and can be found at the HiFi Haven forum as well as other places. Do a search on that arm there, he does a repair to the fragile ruby bearings as used on them.
Interesting to read the ad copy on this arm in the Ebay add you linked. It makes it seem that the armtube is made of Titanium Nitride. Had to look into that as that stuff has always been vapor deposited as a very hard wear surface used on cutting tools. I never heard it used as a material and looking into it all I see is surface treatments. So the arm tube is aluminum with a surface treatment, very dubious as to it’s benefit. I have the same type of arm tume on my Technics SL-M3 LT stashed away.
@elliottbnewcombjryou have to make sure about the bearings, loose bearings must be avoided.
@billwojoepa-100 can be found in perfect condition and you don’t need a pepair "guru" if you will buy a perfect sample. Broken samples must be avoided from the start.
"The EPA-100 tonearm represents several significant advances in tonearm technology. A variable dynamic damping system which permits the user to tune the arm for compatibility with virtually any cartridge now available. An extremely stable 4-point Gimbal suspension employing ruby ball bearings which maintain static friction at 5mg or less for movement in any direction. A titanium nitride shaft which is light and also resistant to flexing and resonances. These elements all contribute to one end, keeping the stylus in optimum contact with the record grooves. Although this many seem elementary, the ability of the EPA-100 to perform this function in a high grade sound system can make a noticeable difference in the clarity and openness of the resulting sound."
Dear @arneama22 : Your Grace is very good tonearm, yes not so easy to change cartridges as tonearms with removable headshells. You can find out a Grace 1040 that's really good removable headshell design.
Btw, @billwojoyou are rigth about Technics tonearms and the EPA 250 that I still own is even superior to the EPA 100.
The 250 comes with 3 different arm wands and with the same VTA unique mechanism made it with the EPA 100-MK2 that's that VTA mechanism the best ever made in any tonearms including today top models.
Most of the arms I see, if not obviously broken (shattered/missing balls), will typically present with at east one pitted ball in a bearing. These can seem to work fine until that pit works its way around to the running surface of the race or pivot, at which point the bearing is ’loose’ with play. It’s also typical for there to be fine detritus in the bearing increasing friction.
Half the time on seemingly good arms I find indentations from the balls in the pivot surface. These surfaces need to be re-ground and polished out for best performance, or the arm will tend to have resting positions when the balls rotate around to fit in the indentations. Usually because of the detritus in the bearing the friction is high enough that this condition isn’t obvious from obersvation.
The silicon nitride balls I use have better roundness and surface finish and a lower friction coefficient than the original rubies. This makes the outstanding bearings in these arms just a bit better.
With these arms, even in poor condition relative to their potential, the performance is beyond most contemporaries. This is to say that people don’t realize they’re leaving performance on the table. If your EPA-100 is nearly impossible to get to hold balance and moves around on air currents in a seemingly completely still room, then there’s an excellent chance it’s still in great shape. If not, it could be a lot better.
EDIT: Nearly forgot - on all of them with original wiring the insulation has reacted with the copper causing a good deal of corrosion and fragility.
If your EPA-100 is nearly impossible to get to hold balance and moves around on air currents in a seemingly completely still room, then there’s an excellent chance it’s still in great shape. If not, it could be a lot better.
Yeah, I remember this, they are moving like crazy during cartridge set-up.
@chaksterThe 100MK2, while similar, has a noteable difference. The bearing pivots on the 100 are spring-loaded and hard-chromed. The 100MK2 uses the same pivots as the B500 which are not hard-chromed nor spring-loaded. The spring-loading doesn't serve any practical purpose. The pivots can be surfaced and polished to perform at the level that can be achieved with the EPA-100 but aren't quite there as-deliverd. They're also more prone to corrosion.
A bit more than double the VTA range which is nice. CW and AS are the same, and on the MK2 it's easier to tailor cables as they're RCA rather than DIN. Wtih some TLC they very nicely.
I believe the Japanese generally prefer the original, and it certainly as a more traditional feel to it. My daily driver is a B500 with surfaced and polished pivots and Si3N4 balls for 100-level performance with the conveniend of detachable armwands. Once used to it, the ergonmics of the 100MK2/B500 is really nice.
OTHER ARMS with VTA on the FLY that fit on the SP15?
VTA on the FLY seems to be the feature to have to make swapping headshells easy enough to do it without hesitation. One arm, 3 headshells: a MM, a MC, a Mono, ready to go.
Other that the bejeweled EPA 100 or 250, there must be other maker’s arms that fit.
JVC Victor 7045?
Is JVC Victor 7085 too long to fit under the dust cover?
Acos Lustre GST-801 should fit, I can measure mine.
To be precise, I would like to underline that Epa 500 is only the common base for all arms compatible with this.
Then there are these barrel interchangeable for base Epa 500
Epa 250 has an S-shaped barrel and a shell with an interchangeable EIA attachment.
Barrel with fixed shell
Epa 501 H
Epa 501 M
Epa 501 L
Epa 501 E
Epa 501 G
each arm has a limited range of compatibility with the cartridges to be used depending on compliance
I own a B500 with the EPA250 arm wand and a 501H. Unfortunately the base is so "fat" that it really will not fit any of my turntables except my TT101. But I have an FR64S mounted on the TT101 specifically for low compliance LOMCs. I'd have to machine a new tonearm board for the B500. (I use a solid aluminum armboard that is further braced from below by fastening to an even larger piece of alu.) But the B500 is an esthetically beautiful piece of precision engineering the likes of which would cost a fortune in today's money.
Just to be clear, by "fat" I meant to suggest that it is wide in diameter at the base which requires a much larger than average hole in the tonearm mount board. Also, my personal bias would be to hard wire the IC to the base, thereby eliminating a pair of RCA jacks in the signal path. JP, have you ever done such a mod?
Dear friends : The OP has a lot of alternatives for tonearm other than Technics that it's not the best tonearm ever made what is the best is the VTA mechanism used in the Epa 500 and MK2.
In the other side the OP has not to buy a vintage tonearm when today ones are really good and more important comes with full warranty from the today manufacturers.
For that mod I'd recommend machining a new base pillar cap to be able to fit a cable retainer. You'd either need to solder the IC at the bottom of the base pillar, or run thin-guage wire the whole way through from the connection PCB in the base. The latter may not be ideal for a good many MM carts as the cable capacitance of such a set up would be rather high.
The mod I'm working on is a pillar cap so I can terminate mini-xlr, as I run balanced. That's more of a personal project as 1) I don't think many people would be interested in it and 2) it's something intersting that gives me an excuse to put the lathe and mill in the garage to use.
OTHER ARMS with VTA on the FLY that fit on the SP15?
Triplanar would be an obvious choice and would suit the SP-15 nicely. They originated the adjustable-on-the-fly VTA tower design used by VPI, Durand and others.
Dear @jpjones3318 : Any knowledge analog audiophile knows the superiority of that Technics state of the art tonearm design against a just normal Triplanar one that ( not only in this regards. ) that can't compare in any way against the Technics unique VTA on the fly mechanism. By comparison the Triplanar VTA adjustement is of the " stone era " vs the superlative MK2.
Everyone keeps talking about the unique VTA on the fly adjustment of the Technics arm so I had to look that up. Aside from 20MM of travel (Technics) opposed to 6MM of travel (that can be reset by simply loosening the collet lock on the pillar and sliding the tonearm up or down) of the Victor UA-7045 and UA-7082 is there really any difference? Looks like they both use a calibrated concentric knurled ring that is simply rotated to raise or lower the tonearm. Yes, I understand the other aspects of the arms are different.
my friend has a unit in a plinth with a dust-cover. it looks like OEM Technics to me, I could check. Grace arm is in a circular removable board, also looks OEM, with a long oval cutout for various lengths.
the platter has a wide rim, so I am not sure how short an arm will fit. chakster said 10.5" or 12".
so it’s not too short or not too long and the fastening from below has to work with the structure of the plinth.
I therefore don’t know if the 7045 is too short, and I was hoping someone knew, if the 7082’s 282mm (11-1/8") spindle to pivot, and the diameter of the arms base plate are long enough/small enough to not hit the rectangular platter housing.
next to last lousy photo here shows the underside, we would need to verify what my friend has
is designed without its own plinth, like the SP-10.
this is not correct, for the SP10 you need at least a 10.5 "arm any other arm below that size would be too short and at rest it would remain bent towards the platter.
my friend has a unit in a plinth with a dust-cover. it looks like OEM Technics to me, I could check. Grace arm is in a circular removable board, also looks OEM, with a long oval cutout for various lengths.
removable arm board looks like this
(seller says fits 9 or 12 sme arms
That one looks like an SME cutout. Several arms use that mounting- it allows the arm to be moved to get the right geometry.
I want to thank all audiogon members who posted advice and recommendations. I learned a lot and finally placed an order on a technics a fully loaded lightly EPA-a250 on a B500 base kit. Separately, I found a base panel for the B500 that was made for my technics SH-15b3 base cabinet/plinth. All should arrive in the next week or two and once I set up I will report again. Thanks again!!
This afternoon my dear friend Elliott helped me set up the base and tonearm along with my Grace F9e cartridge. We got a little frustrated when some of the adjustments to the arm lift and anti-skate seemed frozen. Some drops of sewing machine oil and working the mechanisms loosed up and the issues went away.. For a while we were considering sending the package back as faulty. A little patients payed off and the resulting sounds were fabulous. Thanks again fellow audiophiles for all your help and recommendations.
Raul, I know they are different arms but please explain what is different in the VTA adjustment mechanism. Looks like they both use a helical thread.
Telling me this is better or that is better without a detailed explanation of why it's better makes me believe that you don't know, that it's just an opinion of yours.
Either enlighten me with facts or keep your opinions to yourself.
EPA-250 Tonearm and B500 Base are beautifully engineered and manufactured.
B500 Base in perfect cosmetic condition had: 1. Frozen Arm Lifter and 2. Frozen Anti-Skate. Presumably stored a long time. Seller may have been unaware.
Tough decision: mess with it, or return it ..... I've never seen one, but Arne trusted me, I had my tools .......
IF anyone encounters these problems with this magnificent base:
1a. top hand control lever, moves horizontally, it moved, but the actual lifter it activates was frozen
1b. round brass pin, less than 1/8" diameter, moves gently up and down about 1/4". It was frozen. When assembled, the pin is concealed by part 1c.
1c. curved black plastic piece, fastens to round pin 1b by a small screw, to both attach and to allow slight height adjustment on the pin.
The lifter was fully down, frozen in place, so low that the height adjustment screw was within the base, inaccessible
SOLUTION
A. very very slight repeated pressure to pry the lifter up (avoid marking base's finish), just up enough to allow access to the screw to remove top piece part 1c.
B. now able to grip the top of the round brass pin with small pliers and gently but forcefully raise and lower the pin, bit by bit. Avoid gripping the pin anywhere except the top portion, you do not want the part that recedes into the base to lose it's perfect surface.
C. after some up/dn movement: spin the pin in a circular rotation bit by bit, that finally gave a slight sense of freedom, enough I felt to allow some lubricant to get 'down' alongside the pin.
D. lubricant, just a few drops: sewing machine, liquid bearing, some fine lubricant. not the damping fluid, this is just for the sliding surface of the circular pin, not much is needed
E. slowly but surely the damping fluid within came to life, move the top lever, the pin raises. Heat transferred from your hands while working? Perhaps a hair dryer, a bit of warmth might have helped, but I didn't think of it till now.
F. reattach black plastic part c. I started 'high', IOW, kept the piece just low enough for the screw to tighten onto the pin, thus ok, or lower it a speck. happily this worked perfectly with no further adjustment.
2. Anti-Skate Dial. The outer ring which is supposed to spin was frozen. I have no idea what is within that it activates when it rotates.
A. My thumbs still hurt, but you just have to get it moving, speck by speck, repeatedly move bit by bit, quite a lot back and forth, but eventually, just when you think your thumb is going to bleed, it freed up. Because I wasn't sure what was happening within, I wanted enough sense of motion, like the lifter, that I hoped the innards as well as the outer ring were moving. IOW, just barely being able to rotate it might not have been enough. Some heat from a hair dryer might have helped?
Happily, after install, when calibrating, it worked, however, the dial number did not correspond to the tracking force number (most do not I find). I used my groove-less LP, manually spin, watch the inward/outward movement, set is with very slight inward rather than very slight outward movement. Listened, L/R, balance of familiar imaging sounded 'right on'.
If one is obsessed with that grounding system, best to make a ground wire with a banana jack of correct size to fit the female ground receptor in the base, and then use modern high end phono cables to carry the signal. (That would be my opinion.) In my one experience, 40 year old Technics cables didn't sound very good, or certainly less good than modern eqivalents.
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