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Thinking about trying a MC cart, compliance q's

truck

truck

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I'm currently running a Soundsmith Zephyr MKIII moving iron cart on a VPI Classic 4 with a JMW-12-3D-UniPivot tonearm.

I'd like to try a MC cart. The effective mass of the tonearm is 10.5g. From what I've read, effective mass is rated at 10 grams or below is considered low mass and 11g-25g is moderate mass. Which leaves me in the middle of low and medium. Low mass arms mate well with both moderately high and very high compliance phono cartridges?

Should I be looking for a cart with medium to high compliance?
 
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Yes, but those are mainly MM and MI cartridges. MC cartridges run from medium mass to high mass. Not suitable for your arm. Audio-Technica and Dynavector make cartridges which are better suited for your VPI arm.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Yes, but those are mainly MM and MI cartridges. MC cartridges run from medium mass to high mass. Not suitable for your arm. Audio-Technica and Dynavector make cartridges which are better suited for your VPI arm.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, I was looking at this one AT-ART9XI. Would that be a decent match?
 
KentTeffeteller said:
It's a possible contender.
Click to expand...

My input sensitivity on my pre is .45mV, carts' output voltage is .5mV...so that should be fine. On my pre I can select loads of 10/25/50/100/200/50/1K ohms and the cart's recommended load impedance is Min. 100 ohm. No problem there.

For compliance it shows 2 measurements;
Dynamic Compliance 15 x 10-6 cm/dyne (100 Hz)
Static Compliance 25 x 10-6 cm/dyne

To me this cart seems to be a decent match. Is there another you'd recommend?
 
truck said:
Ok thanks, I was looking at this one AT-ART9XI. Would that be a decent match?
Click to expand...

The Denon DL301 MKII might work also.

DL301II_md.jpg

Static compliance: 35 × 10 (to the power of) -6cm/dyne. Dynamic compliance: 13 × 10-6cm/dyne (100Hz record measurement) Needle tip: 0.14 × 0.07 mm square solid diamond special ellipse needle. Proper stylus force: 1.4g ± 0.2g.
 
truck said:
Both are nice carts, but I think the 304's output voltage is too low, the 301 is a little low too.
Click to expand...

keep in mind that number .45mv is to achieve rated output, not a minimum. the difference of the 301 wouldn't even be noticeable, the 304 would definitely require turning the volume knob more.
 
The Art9 would be a great cart, but I am partial to AT carts. Better hurry prices are going up fast.

As a past Denon DL 110 owner the AT carts smoke the Denon DL 110. That cart you use to get for 89 dollars so it was a good value at that price, todays price, not so much.
 
I have the same arm on my Avenger. According to the compliance chart on Ortofon's website, both my Dynavector DV10x5 and my Ortofon Per Windfeld are perfect matches.

Have used both with excellent success.
 
While many LOMC carts have stiff suspensions, not all do. Then Denon mentioned upthread should be fairly compliant, as are some of AT's range. The ATOCX series, for example, has been tested at ~23 CU.
 
truck said:
My input sensitivity on my pre is .45mV, carts' output voltage is .5mV...so that should be fine. On my pre I can select loads of 10/25/50/100/200/50/1K ohms and the cart's recommended load impedance is Min. 100 ohm. No problem there.

For compliance it shows 2 measurements;
Dynamic Compliance 15 x 10-6 cm/dyne (100 Hz)
Static Compliance 25 x 10-6 cm/dyne

To me this cart seems to be a decent match. Is there another you'd recommend?
Click to expand...

The number we care about is the Dynamic Compliance. Unfortunately Japanese manufacturers list this at 100Hz. It is useless for Western style calculators and formulas. Despite what people on forums parrot, you cannot accurately convert that spec either. So you'd need to look at a third party lab test measurement if one exists, or find someone who has the cart that can do some resonance measurements, and work backwards from that to compliance.
 
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