Is a Ortofon Super OM 40 too light for a KD 2055?

[Athalwolf]

It's time to send my cartridge out for a rebuild and since it's going to Japan via Toronto it will be a while before I get it back. I have newish Ortofon Super 40 that has been collecting dust ( along with the KD) and I'm curious as to whether it is too light for the KD 2055. I would like to use Vinyl Engines compliance calculator but I cannot find the tonearm mass online.

Several postings here and there suggest it is a medium arm but I cannot find any actual numbers in any of the KD documentation at Vinyl Engine or through Google.

 

[Crab33]

The S-shaped arms on Japanese turntables from the 70s are usually medium-to-high mass, so that's a fairly safe assumption for the KD-2055.

You're probably asking whether the Super OM40's stylus is too high in compliance for the effective mass of the arm. I'm sure its compliance used to be quoted as 25cu but now Ortofon are quoting 22cu on their website, although elsewhere on the site they quote 35, but I think this was for an old edition. If you take a compliance of twenty-odd and a effective-mass for the arm in the late teens, there is a marginal compatibility (resonance frequency of 6 or 7 Hz).

However, in practice I have found that the Hi-Fi OM cartridges work well on medium-mass arms. While I haven't tried the Stylus 40, I have used the 10, 20 and 30, which have a similar compliance of 25cu. So, it's worth a try.

 

[Athalwolf]

Hiya Crab33. Thanks very much for taking the time to respond. I bought the Om 40 for a Dual CS5000 that I sold after perhaps 100 hours on the cartridge so am pleased that it's probably doable on the KD. Have a great weekend.

 

[totem]

How's things?
Just a note that the high capacitance needed may be higher than what you've been used to using.

The Kenwood's integrated phono leads may be high capacitance or not, the Ortofon cart using a mid range
figure needs 300 pf or more, some comments a lot higher.

If you have a capacitance meter you could check the leads without any cart mounted and add whatever the phono adds.

 

[Crab33]

Load capacitance is indeed a factor that can make a significant difference, but the Super-OMs have a broad recommended capacitance range of 200-500pF. Having said that, I tend to keep the capacitance down near the bottom of the this range, as I find them rather bright with moderate to high capacitance.

 

[doctor fuse]

If you already have the cartridge and the tonearm, why not give it a try? I imagine there are lots of times when a bad mismatch on paper sounds good in reality.

 

[bimasta]

To use a well-worn phrase "Back in the old days" we put a cartridge in an arm (any cartridge, any arm) and it always sounded great. We paid no attention to the little booklets with all the little numbers and instructions.

Could it have sounded better by paying attention? Probably. But no matter how wrong we did it, it sounded just fine.

Nowadays, I read so many plaints and pleas on AK from "vinyl newbies" that their arm and cartridge have a compliance mismatch of .0000000 micro-whatevers, and they're terrified to play it or their house will blow up.

It ain't that hard, guys. Just take a deep breath and try it.

 

[Athalwolf]

How's things?
Just a note that the high capacitance needed may be higher than what you've been used to using.

The Kenwood's integrated phono leads may be high capacitance or not, the Ortofon cart using a mid range
figure needs 300 pf or more, some comments a lot higher.

If you have a capacitance meter you could check the leads without any cart mounted and add whatever the phono adds.

Hiya Rick. I am doing well and hope you are too. It almost felt like spring this morning until the clouds arrived.

I do not have a cap meter but I will order one. I really should test the capacitance of my set up anyway.
There is about 800 hours on my cartridge. I emailed with Edward at Richmond's Acoustic Elements yesterday and he feels my cartridge is still fairly young and that he advises his customers that 2000-4000 hours is what I should expect out of the Dyna if I am playing NM albums. Everything sounds fine I'm just concerned about damaging albums by being tardy with the rebuild. Once again thanks for your help!

 

[bimasta]

There is about 800 hours on my cartridge. I emailed with Edward at Richmond's Acoustic Elements yesterday and he feels my cartridge is still fairly young and that he advises his customers that 2000-4000 hours is what I should expect out of the Dyna if I am playing NM albums. Everything sounds fine I'm just concerned about damaging albums by being tardy with the rebuild. Once again thanks for your help!

This corresponds to the estimate in that famous old interview with Jaap (?) Van den Hul that his styli are good for about 2,500 hours of safe playing time.

Playing crappy old garage-sale records will shorten the lifespan drastically. But anyone who uses a good cartridge on such records deserves what he gets.

 

[Athalwolf]

I see there are several interviews with Van on You Tube. If you have a link I would like to check it out. Thanks.

 

[cgutz]

I found my Ortofon VMS20E MK2, likely with similar compliance specs to your OM40, would play ok on my KD5070 (likely similar mass arm). However, it actually sounded better when I downgraded the stylus to a lower compliance stylus on the same body (VMS15 as I recall?).

 

[Athalwolf]

I found my Ortofon VMS20E MK2, likely with similar compliance specs to your OM40, would play well on my KD5070 (likely similar mass arm). However, it actually sounded better when I downgraded the stylus to a lower compliance stylus on the same body (VMS15 as I recall?).

That is interesting and good to know.

 

[justjed2]

It seems that you already have some really good gear, but there's nothing wrong with good enough. Since it's a back-up, you've nothing to lose, except maybe some set-up time. It might not be optimal, but it won't be a disappointment. The OM series and the majority of Japanese S-arms play nicely together, nicely enough that you'll quite likely enjoy the pairing.

 

[Athalwolf]

It seems that you already have some really good gear, but there's nothing wrong with good enough. Since it's a back-up, you've nothing to lose, except maybe some set-up time. It might not be optimal, but it won't be a disappointment. The OM series and the majority of Japanese S-arms play nicely together, nicely enough that you'll quite likely enjoy the pairing.

Good to know. It won’t be for long, perhaps a month or so. Plus it’s my busy season at work so during that time I’ll be working a lot. I’ll use the opportunity to play grade some visually NM records that I’ve run through an ultrasonic machine but have never played. I’ll determine if they are worthy of joining my main collection. Enjoy the weekend!