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Nagaoka MP-500 on a Technics SL1200MK2

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asmneto

Active Member
Hello! I have Technics SL1200MK2 with stock tonearm, and I'm considering buying a Nagaoka MP-500 cartridge, after using a MP-110 with great results. Would it be a good match?

Technics tonearm has supposedly an effective mass of 12g. The MP-500 has 8g mass and dynamic compliance of 8,5x10^-6 (not sure if 10Hz or 100Hz).

I could choose between the following headshells: Technis stock (7g mass?), Sumiko HS12 (11.4g), Zupreme (12g) and Ortofon LH-8000 (8.5g).

What would be the best match?

Is this cart suitable for this tonearm?
 
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The 12-gram tonearm mass is assuming the use of the stock Technics headshell. And the compliance is specified at 10 hz, IIRC. So effective compliance at 100 hz is probably ~15 (and yes, that's just an estimate).

If I'm using the Resonance Frequency calculator correctly, with the stock headshell you'll have a resonance frequency of ~9 hz (using 20g total mass, 15cu compliance as input to the calculator). Pretty good. The heavier headshells will increase the total T+cart mass, driving the resonance frequency down (bad). Stock headshell seems the best choice.
 
I think you might be OK. I recently got one for my Rega RB250, also a 12g tonearm. My impressions are quite positive.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=479481

This is a thread I posted here at AK, but there is an imbedded thread at VinylEngine that discusses mass and compliance quite a bit, especially the Japanese freq. standard vs. others. Check it out - I learned a lot and felt more comfortable moving forward with it.
 
Thank you both for your input! I've learned a lot reading that thread. It seems the stock Technis headshell would be my best bet. It also seems that the MP-500 has more of a 22x10^-6 dynamic compliance at 100Hz.

However, I am now a bit concerned about something that have come to my mind:

With the MP-110, I have to use the Technics supplied auxiliary weight, to be attached on the back of the tonearm. Otherwise, I'm not able to adjust VTF. This extra weight has 10g mass. This means I would be raising total mass to 22g? This would be a bad match for the MP-500, correct?

Is there any lighter headshell available than Technics' stock? I can also choose between mounting hardware from Soundsmith kit.
 
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If the 100-hz compliance is 22, then you'll get some benefit from lightening the headshell as much as possible. Nylon screws, etc. It's not a requirement of course, but if you want to maximize performance as much as possible then it'll help a little.

Adding the auxiliary weight does not directly add to the tonearm's effective mass. It's nowhere near that simple. Adding the auxiliary weight might even decrease the effective mass slightly, by allowing the main counterweight to be placed closer to the tonearm pivot (I'm still a novice at this, but I believe this is correct).

Also, is your MP-110 mounted in a stock Technics headshell? If not, then the heavier headshell that you're using may be what is forcing you to use the aux weight. Mounting an MP-500 into a stock headshell may eliminate the need for the aux weight.

There are some low-end, lightweight stamped metal headshells that are lighter than the Technics headshell. Not by much though... it's less than 1 gram difference IIRC. They're of lower quality than the Technics headshell, but may be okay. At least they're cheap. You can find them on eBay, at Garage-A-Records, and elsewhere.
 
I don't think a 10g change in mass on the counterwight side is worth considering in whether or not the Nagaoka meets your needs for compliance and its own mass.
 
asmneto said:
Is this statement about the auxiliary weight even lowering the effective tonearm mass correct?
Click to expand...

All masses involved can be looked upon separetely with their distance to the pivot. Transferring this extra counterweight mass to the needle tip, which all stated effective masses refer to looks like this; (extra mass)*(distance to pivot)^2 = (eff mass at needle)*(distance needle to pivot)^2
So in Your case adding the extra mass means less than 1g in extra eff mass. If the counterweight then can be closer to the pivot it can end up with; that adding an extra weight doesn´t change anything, but this must of course be calculated using counterweight mass and distance.
gusten
 
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I see... so it seems the Nagaoka MP-500 is a great match to a Technics SL-1200MK2 with original tonearm and headshell (with auxiliary weight). I will have to try this combination. :)
 
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