Cartridge Reccomendations for the MoFi Ultradeck

Has anyone tried the Hana ML on the Ultradeck yet? I'm curious if that comb would be fitting and a decent upgrade when the time comes. I've honestly been very happy with the MasterTracker, so I have considered staying with that one potentially.

To answer your question someone should CALL to MoFi tech support to make sure about tonearm effective mass. If you don't know the exact mass then you can't choose any cartridge for this arm. Two question for MoFi below: 

1) What is MoFi tonearm effective mass ?

2) Did you measure dynamic compliance of MoFi carts at 10Hz or at 100Hz ?

There are 3 models on website, a compliance stated from 8cu to 10cu. If a compliance measured at 10Hz then these cartridges have fairly low compliance, they have stiff suspension and those cartridges will work fine ONLY with very high mass tonearm. Normally all American cartridge manufacturers measure compliance at 10Hz.

When someone will get an answers for these 2 question we can continue. If we don't know the answers we can't do even the basics. Tonearm effective mass and cartridge compliance is starting point. 

Thank you for the specific questions @chakster ! 

I emailed both questions to MoFi last night, and had some specific answers in my inbox this morning. Hopefully this helps some people and clears up some details. 

Directly from MoFi:

The UltraDeck Tonearm Effective Mass is  25.14g. We have mounted many cartridges from Ortofon, Grado, Hana, Audio Technica, Denon, and others that work great with both of our turntables. You want to avoid any cartridges that are specified as high compliance but the majority of today’s cartridges are either medium or low compliance and will work great with your turntable.

 

The compliance of our cartridges at 100Hz is available;

Studio Tracker

 Static compliance : 35 x 10e-6/dyne

 Dynamic compliance : 8 x 10e-6/dyne

Ultra Tracker

  Static compliance : 35 x 10e-6/dyne

  Dynamic compliance : 10 x 10e-6/dyne

Master Tracker

  Static compliance : 40 x 10e-6/dyne

  Dynamic compliance : 10 x 10e-6/dyne

@displayname

The UltraDeck Tonearm Effective Mass is 25.14g.

So this is a high mass for such a short arm, for example even my modern Reed 3P "12 Cocobolo is only 18g mass.

The compliance of our cartridges at 100Hz is available;

Then dynamic compliance for MoFi cartridges measured at 100Hz, in this case i’m pretty sure those cartridges are made in Japan (not in the USA), probably by Audio-Technica (or some other big company).

To make it short we have to add 100Hz to the data on their website:

Studio Tracker / Dynamic compliance: 8cu @ 100 Hz

Ultra Tracker / Dynamic compliance: 10cu @ 100 Hz

Master Tracker / Dynamic compliance: 10cu @ 100 Hz

What is the most important for us (users) is to know dynamic compliance at 10Hz (not at 100Hz), so we have to convert it to 10Hz. How can we do that ? Pretty simple ...

HERE WE GO WITH "x 1.7" FORMULA:

the results as follows:

Studio Tracker / Dynamic compliance: 13.6cu @10Hz

Ultra Tracker / Dynamic compliance: 17cu @10Hz

Master Tracker / Dynamic compliance: 17cu @ 100 Hz

Now, since we know cartridge weight and dynamic compliance at 10Hz (for MoFi cartridges it is 13.6cu and 17cu depends on the model) we can calculate tonearm/cartridge resonance frequency.

So based on that info, is it fair to say that most medium and low compliance carts would be a decent fit? I know several people who are very happy with Grado carts on their UDs, and I've seen some with Nagaoka carts that are also quite happy. 

I previously enjoyed the Nagaoka MP-150, so their line would be of interest to me, but the Hana ML also seems interesting. 
This is all assuming I want to venture out. Honestly I still really like the UltraTracker on this table, so I might not even feel a need to change brands, but I don't want to write off others.