ZYX cartridge looking for advises


I did my homework already, was trying to get an answer on many Audiogon forum places, but still few things to clarify. I know how busy you are, would appreciate for helping.

I am looking to buy Airy 3, low output, copper coil, with SB.
Would VPI Classic or Airy with JMW10.5i be sufficient to handle this cart properly (I read that JMW 9 is considered as underachiever for this)?
Would it be “mandatory” to get VTA on the fly, I know you are a big fan of adjusting VTA for each disk/play?

How to be sure that cart is brand new and the blue ZYX securing tape was never removed and reinstalled back/glued or so, how do the original blue secure tape ends are connected together, any kind of thermal press or so?

I would appreciate for your comments.
rokokono

Showing 2 responses by bnrlaw

I know I am chiming in a little late on the topic, but I have had a ZYX airy 3x-sb low output cart for years now. For the first 2 years I had it on a vpi scout with jmw9 arm and it worked pretty well. I then changed to an origin live resolution/ encounter tt/tonearm set up and I realized that I had never heard what the ZYX was truly capable of while it was on the scout combo.
I would urge you to look at the origin live arms and tables if you truly
have your heart set on a ZYX cart. These are very very finicky demanding cartridges that must be set up just so and I would argue that they can't be fine tuned properly on a unipivot arm. Don't get me wrong, it will still sound good. Maybe very good. But you won't hear the detail and micro dynamics that this cart is capable of. Nothing against the vpi products. I think they're unbelievably good, but you should stick with a dynavector or sumiko or sound smith cart if you're going the vpi route and save your money.
I am sure you will be happy with your purchase. Being able to dial in the vta on the 10.5 arm should make a nice difference over the 9arm.
However, I still think a unipivot arm is not the best arm for the ZYX. I would love to hear from anyone else who has heard the ZYX on different arms.