[78-L] Tonearm Mass and Cartridge/Stylus Compliance To Buy New Cartridge

[Michael Biel]

Even the best Garrard counterweighted arm was clunky, and the usual
spring-loaded ones are impossible.  A GE VR II might be good, or one of
Steve Barr's beloved (only to him) ceramic carts.  But seriously, the
Shure SC35 series would be good and there are some 78 styli for it (but
not the wonderful SS 78E anymore).  The Pickering/Stanton 500 would also
be good for the lower compliant mountings that should be used for the 78
points rather than the usual LP point.  KAB would know best about that
since Keven still works with Stanton on design.  The real high-end
audiofool carts that track at a gram or less won't work.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com


-------- Original Message --------
From: beststuff4u at frontiernet.net

I recently became aware of the proper way of matching a given
cartridge/stylus to a given tonearm. All the info I have found talks
about if high tone arm mass then a low compliance cartridge/stylus is
required and the the reverse is true, i.e. low tone arm mass requires a
high compliance cartridge.

Since terms like high and low are relative, I had hoped to find out what
specs or measurements are needed to make the high/low determination. I
need to buy a new cartridge/stylus for my vintage Garrard TT.

Can anyone shed any light on this or point me to a resource with the
answers? Better yet, has anyone here gone through the exercise of
selecting a different new cartridge/stylus to replace one that came with
the TT?

All input is appreciated.

Thank you.