Triplanar VII tonearm & Koetsu Jade Platinum cart.

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.

FWIW,when I went through my ten year Koetsu period(owning a Black,Onyx,Onyx Platinum,and Urushi)I had two different SME-V arms.I must admit the arms seemed very good with these cartridges(to me).
Good luck

Hi all

Thks alot for your help, and keep them coming.

If I did not respond to yr help with the results of whatever remedies that you recommended, it is be'cos I am constantly travelling and maybe I will have some time in the near future to try something out

I will perhaps try a penny with some blue tack and see how's it going and report back

Cheers ... Peter

As far as headshell weight is concerned (a good way of increasing eff. Mass), be prepared to try several different materials.

You are dealing with subtle energy transmission/reflection issues and the solution for different material combinations (cartridge body / headshell material) varies. Take your time with this, do a good setup and revisit ALL parameters. Don't forget to revisit cartridge loading as you never know what you've been compensating for when you arrived at the "right" solution. Listen for a while (a week?) before trying the next combo. Don't be hasty in your judgment. It takes time to go through the subtleties.

Note that if you implement a shim it on top of the headshell, even in this position you can affect the sound in ways you wouldn't imagine. Those of you who are inclined to do so, can experiment with the difference between the nylon screw washers and the stainless ones. Both washer materials sound different and have a lot less mass than a shim. Nevertheless, you can hear their effect. Surely this is much an issue of compliance (washers) as it is other attributes of the material swap, but the point is that they do sound different - in a position where you wouldn't predict they would (the cartridge is still making contact with the headshell).

You can well imagine that you can influence the sound by changing shim materials. I'd most definitely play with both aluminum as well as brass. I would not hesitate trying the shims between cartridge and headshell. It's a question of how much you are willing to experiment.

As already noted, you might want to Blu-tack a nickel on top of the headshell (re-calibrate your tracking force) - this as a quick try. A nickel weighs a bit over 5 grams which will take you into the 16-17 gm. territory as far as effective mass is concerned.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier