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Should I keep my Well tempered tonearm?

I have had this arm for years. I am currently in the middle of getting an oracle Delphi MKIII. My alexandria it was on has had it, and its not logical to repair what needs replacement.

I have always had mistracking issues with this tonearm and whatever cartridge. I just sold a Grado Sonata, which may have been a mistake. I have tried multiple cartridges (read 4 different known good units) and never seem to get it right.

I ordered the protractor from stanalog because I am concerned that its incorrectly set overhang causing mistracking. When I say mistracking I mean sibalence.

I have played with every possible setting and never had it setup to my satisfaction.

Honestly, I am sick of screwing around with this arm. I am about ready to get rid of it and get something different.

The manual isn't all that great as far as installation instructions either. It lists that you mount the cart and set overhang by twisting the arm mounting until the stylus lines up with the overhang circle. This makes no sense to set overhang with an arbitrary cartridge mounting arrangement.

Sorry if this seems like a rant, but I am very frustrated and annoyed with this arm. I just want to listen to good sounding clean music. Not dirty sibalence.

Thanks guys, your input would be appreciated. I would likely have to buy an arm that is priced close to what the WTT is worth used because I won't have a ton of money left over.

Evan

BTW, I put a 10x5 on a thorens turntable and could listen to that all day compared to my setup.
240z4u
240z4u OP
30 posts
 
Thanks for the reassurance that I am not barking up the wrong tree with this on a suspended table!

Evan
schipo
1,267 posts
 
Viridian, if the wtt arm works well on your Sonographe SG-3
then I stand corrected. I am just going by what the designer Firebaugh said,that the arm was best with a non suspension table design. I relize that there are exceptions to every rule. And I like to say hello to Armstrod. I remmember when he came to pick up the table a real gentlemen.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Schipo, I never made the claim that the arm was superior on suspended tables, simply that it functioned well on one suspended table with one cartridge. You, and Bill, may be very well correct that the arm sounds best on non-suspended tables. At the time that I bought the arm, they did not even make a table - see my remarks about the genesis of the table above. As for Evan's comment, "Thanks for the assurance that I am not barking up the wrong tree with this on a suspended table!", that is his inference, not mine. I would never draw this conclusion based on the arm sounding good on one suspended table, and one cartridge, even though the rig was my own. It is possible that he is not even in the right forrest, never mind the right tree. When I said, "Kind of puts that one to bed.", I was not speaking about the arm working better with non-suspended turntables, I was talking about the incorrect assumption that the arm was designed for the Well Tempered Table. My appologies if this caused confusion.
armstrod
498 posts
 
240z4u,

If your phono preamp is set at 50dB, you may be overloading your system. The Shure has a 4mv output, so the KAB gain calculator says 38dB gain is optimal. Depending on the gain in the rest of your system, 50dB could be too high. If your phono preamp is adjustable, you might want to dial it down some.

Viridian's experience with the WT arm and the Sonographe is just proof that seemingly unlikely combinations can work great. I would never have guessed that, but guessing is frequently wrong. Audio is often maddeningly, or maybe refreshingly, non-linear.
240z4u OP
30 posts
 
I guess what I meant to say was that my tonearm had been used on suspended tables before.

In my own (not the most educated) opinion, I don't see why it would not work on a suspended table.

Its besides the point though right now, because its on an unsuspended turntable.

Interesting thought on overload. I have run the following cartridges with pretty much the same problems

Denon DL110
Sumiko BP
Grado sonata
Current shure
Audio technica cheapo

They are all pretty high output wise.

Non-linear? Yeah thats a gross understatement. I guess its part of the fun/frustration. I just happen to be in the frustration part right now!

Guys, once again, thank you SO much for your insight. It is VERY helpful.

I actually have a shinon red with a missing cantilever that I was going to have redone by sound-smith. Its .9mv and would be a better match for my phono stage from what I saw on the KAB calculator (which I didn't know existed till today).

I was going off recommendations from music direct.

I have no idea if my Welborne has adjustable output. I know loading and capacitance is adjustable but I have not played with it.

This discussion is actually very encouraging, thank you!

Evan

I had a buddy offer me a basically new Sumiko FT-3 for 200 bucks. I may just buy it to try it.
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