Triplanar VII tonearm & Koetsu Jade Platinum cart.

Herb Papier (creator of the Triplanar) was a perfectionist, and it was not for nothing that he added the damping trough to later iterations of his tonearm.

True enough, but Herb didn't have access to truly well damped cartridges like a ZYX UNIverse, Lyra Olympos or Transfiguration Orpheus, to name a few of today's best. They simply didn't exist in his day. Herb did his best to overcome problems created by the cartridges of his time.

Dgad's comment re: the Ikeda arm reminded me that Raul reported that his Ikeda was the best match for his Koetsu RSP from all the 20-something tonearms in his collection. Higher mass is perhaps the key.

Hi Dgad

How do you add mass to the Triplanar arm ? Any "special" DIY material ? Is it directly to the headshell or the arm tube (nearer the headshell) ?

Also, I assume that once you add mass - need to add a heavy counter-weight or the reverse (use the smaller counter-weight that Triplanar also provides ?

Look forward to your answer and help

Cheers ... Peter

In the US the online retailers sell headshell shims for this purpose. They can mount on top of a TriPlanar headshell to avoid affecting VTA.

You could DIY some yourself pretty easily. You might try different materials, since their effect on resonance behavior will vary. Shims like this muddy the sound of my ZYX UNIverse, but with a Koetsu it might be different.

In the case of effective mass, it is a different calculation than the mass of the arm. I am not 100% sure but I feel it relates to inertia. In the case of a Dynavector arm the effective mass can be altered by using a high mass headshell. On the inexpensive side use some blue tack. Place it under the headshell or on top and some on the counterweight. It is cheap enough an experiment (About $10) to learn the effects of mass. This renders most tonearm upgrades / swaps superfluous since now you are able to test mass changes rather than arm changes. Using a penny stuck on top of the headshell w. blue tack can do the trick as well. Just use a test record before & after & determine your resonant frequency. Listen before & after the change. You should easily learn the difference. Unless the arms bearings are not up to it you should be able to easily hear how mass relates to compliance and effects freq. response. Good luck.

I spoke with someone today who has alot of experience with
the Koetsu stone bodied cartridges. He basically said that
there is more to matching the Jade than mating it w/ a high mass arm. He stressed that energy dissipation was important, because the stones give off more energy than their lighter counterparts. This energy than travels through the arm. He felt an arm that would do a great job of releasing or dissipating this energy would be the SME 5. He did concur that the SME had a warmer balance than most arms. However, still felt it would bring out better highs and deeper bass.