@toschsii,
You're being very smart to ask those questions. It's a complicated and often frustrating subject for some. You are lucky that there are many helpful experts here. I would suggest paying close attention to comments from
@almarg @raulariegas @nandric, @chakster, @lewm, @dgarretson, @atmashpere who all make regular contributions on this topic.
I'll mention one tonearm consideration that you should familiarize yourself with:
The relationship between tonearm and cartridge. Resonance is a big concern with a known and agreed upon range of what works best. Too low a resonant frequency or too high will cause huge problems in sound quality and tracking ability. vinylengine sit has a resonance calculator that is a well-known tool that lets you consider the compatibility of any given cartridge and tonearm. It's not perfect, but it is a perfect place to start to understand the concepts and get lead you in the right direction. Pair a cartridge and tonearm that lead you to a resonance in the green range. One quirk is that Japanese companies present different specs than most Euro or US ones, so if considering a Japanese cart, by sure to convert the specs so you get "apples to apples". (This will make more sense after a bit of reading).
Though not about tonearms, another important aspect to understand is the relationship between cartridge output and phono stage gain. Carts put out very small signals. Phono stages, or phono sections of preamps that have them built-in, add a certain amount of additional gain(often adjustable). To get reasonable performance you need to have enough gain but not too much. Some very low output carts needs an extra boost(step up transformer). Moving magnet carts need less gain, moving coils more. Many phono stages are made to focus on one or the other, some both. Making sure your phono stage has appropriate gain settings and loading options for the cartridge is a critical step to enjoying vinyl.
I'm sure plenty will chime in with good advice Cheers,
Spencer
You're being very smart to ask those questions. It's a complicated and often frustrating subject for some. You are lucky that there are many helpful experts here. I would suggest paying close attention to comments from
@almarg @raulariegas @nandric, @chakster, @lewm, @dgarretson, @atmashpere who all make regular contributions on this topic.
I'll mention one tonearm consideration that you should familiarize yourself with:
The relationship between tonearm and cartridge. Resonance is a big concern with a known and agreed upon range of what works best. Too low a resonant frequency or too high will cause huge problems in sound quality and tracking ability. vinylengine sit has a resonance calculator that is a well-known tool that lets you consider the compatibility of any given cartridge and tonearm. It's not perfect, but it is a perfect place to start to understand the concepts and get lead you in the right direction. Pair a cartridge and tonearm that lead you to a resonance in the green range. One quirk is that Japanese companies present different specs than most Euro or US ones, so if considering a Japanese cart, by sure to convert the specs so you get "apples to apples". (This will make more sense after a bit of reading).
Though not about tonearms, another important aspect to understand is the relationship between cartridge output and phono stage gain. Carts put out very small signals. Phono stages, or phono sections of preamps that have them built-in, add a certain amount of additional gain(often adjustable). To get reasonable performance you need to have enough gain but not too much. Some very low output carts needs an extra boost(step up transformer). Moving magnet carts need less gain, moving coils more. Many phono stages are made to focus on one or the other, some both. Making sure your phono stage has appropriate gain settings and loading options for the cartridge is a critical step to enjoying vinyl.
I'm sure plenty will chime in with good advice Cheers,
Spencer