Seriously, it would be nice to hear some feedbacks from Reed users. Which cartridges well matched and which are not (based on your own experience). |
Hi Chakster, Had a Reed 12" 3P with cocobolo arm wand for about a year. It had no trouble with higher compliance carts on my table. Never tried a ZYX but had a few MM carts on it with no problems. Should work just fine. |
Hello Sarcher, did you measured reconance frequency with those high compliance (25-30cu) cartridges and test LP ? |
The only thing a resonance frequency test and/or compliance formula can tell you is whether an arm/cartridge combo will resonate inside or outside the the "preferred" 8-15Hz band. This simplistic piece of data rarely has much effect on sound quality.
Still, to save you time and trouble, here's the answer:
18gm effective mass is a medium mass arm. As such, it will accommodate the large majority of contemporary cartridges (including ZYX and many MMs) without exciting resonances outside that so-called safe zone.
No mathematical formula or resonance test will help you find a good sounding cartridge. There is no "perfect" cartridge for the Reed or any other tonearm. Stop looking for certainty or objectivity where there is none.
The important question is this: how does the tonearm interact sonically with various cartridges. This has a far larger effect on music reproduction and it can't be measured with any test record or formula. That's the kind of user feedback you should be hoping to receive.
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By higher I meant no higher than around 20 cu. Yes I did test with a test record and one of the carts was around 7 hz. Still played just fine.
Doug is right though. I would not worry about the resonance until you get way out of the so called safe zone.
Never used a Zyx on my Reed so can't help you there. I would bet it will play just fine though. One cool thing about the ZYX carts is you can order one without the backing plate if you need a lighter cart. Not sure how that would change the sound though. |
Thanks Doug and Sarcher
I'll screw up my lower compliance ARGENT cartridge soon to check it against a bit higher compliance AT ART-2000.
As for the ZYX without Silver Base, Sarcher, yes i owned Airy-3 before and preffered 4D Premium with Silver Base over it. Sent my 4D for upgrade anyway, don't have it now to check with Reed (otherwice i would not post questions here). |
Hi, i had a Delos, Kleos, AT-OC9I and now an EMT JSD6 on my 3P 12" with Pernambuco arm. No one had problems, but i think the EMT is the best match.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3htqds5fbix8wkk/Feickert%20Blackbird%20-%20EMT.jpg?dl=0 |
Ninetynine, it looks nice. The shape of "headshell" on my reed is different, it's not removable from the armwand, probably earlier version, looks more like Da Vinci than current round shaped reed shell. That's interesting, i'll check for EMT. |
Just swapped my Audio-Technica ART-2000 with vintage Argent MC500HS on Reed 3p and love the sound even better. It's something special about this very rare and almost unknown cartridge. I've been using Argent MC on Thomas Schick "12 and it was really good, but on Reed 3P it sounds much better. While the resonant frequency is a bit lover than ideal (AT ART2000 was ideal near 10Hz) i love the sound of high output Argent MC500HS. Maybe it's because of sapphire cantilever. Their stylus specify as Hyper Elliptical and on their paper sheet it's similar to Stereohydron / Fine Line / Line Contact / Long Line / Line Trace.
Anyone on here experienced with Argent top of the line cartridges ? |
I can only post my experience in my system that since early 2013 employs Reed 2A 12" Cocobolo partnered with Zyx 4D Gold (without silver base, 0,48 mv output).
The 2A Reed has 17 gr mass instead of 18 of your 3P model so this is not exactly the same; neverthless it seems that the matching works fine with no audible resonances.
best
Marco |
Cheers Marco
Hmm, i always thought Silver Base is an improvement (not just additional weight). My previous model of ZYX was Airy-3 without silver base. My next model was 4D Premium with Silver Base 2 (i don't have it now, shipped for service to Japan). |
Cheers Chakster
I asked myself sometimes if the Silverbase will be an improvement; also me in the past I used an Airy 3 so we made a similar journey in analog domain.
my actual turntable is a Feickert Blackbird.
since I'm curious... where exactly you send the cartridge to Japan for service? maybe in the future it will useful to know for me; here in Italy we have an expert for retipping but he don't make service to Zyxs...
best
Marco |
Just noticed this thread. I have a 12" 3P in cocobola and use it with the Benz LP-s to great effect. The Benz weighs in at 16.5 gm as I recall with a compliance of 15. Strange combo. The Reed handles it fine. |
Marco, it's stated everywhere that ZYX distributors and Nakatsuka-San support only models with real serial numbers (no support for grey market products like those from ebay in hong kong). If you have cartridges from official ZYX distributors they can take care of it (in case of retip/service questions). ZYX retip policy is interesting, they do not retip old cartridge, they will supply brand new cartridge with new serial number to customers (if you old original is broken). So the cartridge with broken tip must be returned to ZYX in Japan for replacement. It's not cheap, but you pay less for new one - this is what they call retip. If you have no distributor in Italy you can contact Mehran @ SoraSound in USA (he's a top guy in business).
If you preffer retipping old cartridge then Sound Smith can do that for reasonable price, no problem. But it will be no longer ZYX home sound! And if some other vendor has touched original zyx you will no longer get Nakatsuka-san support.
I've had some distortion problems in the right channel with new gray market Airy in the beggining, later the problem dissapeared, maybe it was just burn-in period.
Preamp is very important for cartridges like ZYX, it was a big improvement to use ZYX CPP-1 Pre-Pre (instead of my existing MC stage) and MM stage. |
Thank you very much for the detailed informations!
My 4D comes from the past Italian importer so it's ok in the future for substitution/retipping I hope.
Again.. the Italian expert (Mr. Roberto Torlai) can actually make the retipping work; neverthless he admits that sounds will be no longer the Zyx's sound...
my best
Marco |
Any happy owners of Miyajima (Kansui or Madake) on Reed 3p "12 could leave a comments? Accordind to updated spects on miyajima website: Compliance of both cartridges (10Hz) = 9×10-6cm/dyne. Miyajima-san said that Reed 3p arm would match the Kansui very well (this is what German distributor of Miyajima told me), but Mr.Vidmantas @Reed is not so optimistic regarding Kansui + Reed combo. Would be nice to read comments from the actual users (especially Madake). |
And nother question is MM/MI cartridges of higher compliance on Reed 3P, i haven't tried yet, but in MM vs. MC thread i've seen some users of 10.5 Reed with MM cartridges (20-30cu). Anyone? |
