Van Alstine also used a thick silicone oil on the coils to “pot”. Effective? Who knows.
A while ago now I installed a silicone tube inside a Technics arm while rewiring it. Dropping the armtube on a table before it bounced and vibrated like a tuning fork. After it landed with a thunk. Putting a tube on the outside was not nearly as effective due to the effects of constrained damping. I noted that comparing a Technics with an undamped arm and this arm carts were sounding much better on the damped arm which is no real surprise. Two things I am thinking here, one with a well damped arm how much difference does damping the cart make?
Right. If I had unlimited funds…and room to do it, I’d have 2 Technics one stock and one to try all these mods. Only thing I’ve done to mine is the KAB damper.
The tube is 5 bucks and makes a huge difference, but you need to rewire the arm to fit it.
I’d not worry about tonearm mass too much. I just did a years worth of swapping between light and heavy headshells. If there was a difference, my brain forgot between swaps. I don’t discount it, but I wonder if you have a damped tonearm..it doesn’t matter so much. I used an old Grado G1 from ‘79 that was still 30+ compliance and a Shure V15Vxmr with a Korf headshell and I heard no ill effects.
If you do retip, go the boron too as it makes a very worthwhile difference and the cost is similar for a bigger upgrade.
I am a total rookie when it comes to cartridges. I joined this forum and a member kindly pointed me towards a really good deal on my current Kenwood KD-770D. In a random act of GREAT luck, it came with this Grado Sonata 1 cart. I can only compare it to my previous cart of decades, as Shure m91, and it's leaps and bounds better. The separation and detail I hear in the midrange and treble is noteworthy and brilliant. I wish I had more adjectives and the lexicon of the other TT audiophiles, but that's my $0.02.
My experience is that sapphire or ruby is more delicate, than boron. After the last snapped cantilever, no more for me.
Great cartridge. Although that looks to be Mahogany wood,…which would make it a Sonata. Sonata 1’s went to Jarrah wood which is much darker. You can confirm by looking at the bottom. Black plastic stylus grip will be inscribed with an S, or S1.I am a total rookie when it comes to cartridges. I joined this forum and a member kindly pointed me towards a really good deal on my current Kenwood KD-770D. In a random act of GREAT luck, it came with this Grado Sonata 1 cart. I can only compare it to my previous cart of decades, as Shure m91, and it's leaps and bounds better. The separation and detail I hear in the midrange and treble is noteworthy and brilliant. I wish I had more adjectives and the lexicon of the other TT audiophiles, but that's my $0.02.
Yup, it’s inscribed S1 and I confirmed it when I spoke to the helpful gent at Grado, when I first got the TT.
No they are much heavier and not as stiff as boron ( cantilever indeed to be stiff and light). Density of boron is just over 2 and ruby and Sapphire are over 4 so they are twice as heavy not good.
I mean "delicate" as in handle with care.
Ahh yes runy and Sapphire are crazy fragile, boron is quite strong but ruby and Sapphire almost snaps if you look at it.
