Tonearm question

dromunds
dromunds Posts: 10,009
in Electronics
Okay, I know I've been tugging at this bit for awhile, but I really need to get it together and upgrade my Grace 707 tonearm. Anybody have any thoughts on Denon DA-401 NIB, as opposed to SME M2-9R, or M2-9? Any other suggestions around a grand give or take a buffalo-head? I have a choice of carts. SAE 1000 w/ Soundsmith Level III retip; Denon 103D or Denon DL-160. Thanks.
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Comments

  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,418
    Not much experience on the subject, but Origin Live makes some good arms as well. SME was also on the short list for me. I will post a couple links later tonight
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

    “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
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  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    edited February 2016
    Jelco 750D. Best bang for the buck out there. Easily adjustable and has fluid damping if you choose to run it. Also has removable headshell (vs the Rega based arms and some of the others), which is quite nice. I like to have carts already setup on a removable headshell so I can literally change carts within a few minutes. It's also compatible with a wide range of carts. You can run a lighter headshell and no fluid damping for higher compliance carts and a heavier headshell, heavy counterweight, and fluid damping for low compliance carts.
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,009
    Thanks much!
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  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    edited February 2016
    No worries! Are you putting this on your DP-1200? The Jelco would be a great match to that deck.
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,009
    I have a Denon DP-72L that it would go on. Think it would be a great match for that table?
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  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    Yes I do. It would be a great match both in performance and styling.
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,009
    Another question if I may: I see there's a place in Burnsville, Mn, that sells cryo-treated 750D's. Do you think that's a good and desirable mod? What about cables, I see they come without cable, any suggestion for cable? What is the correct spindle to pivot distance, is it something different than Jelco indicates? I see something about it may be better at 210mm rather than 214mm suggested. Thanks for all your help.
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  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,418
    Everything in Minnesota is cryo treated if you leave it outside long enough... I will be in town the week of March 11th.
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

    “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
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  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    dromunds wrote: »
    Another question if I may: I see there's a place in Burnsville, Mn, that sells cryo-treated 750D's. Do you think that's a good and desirable mod? What about cables, I see they come without cable, any suggestion for cable? What is the correct spindle to pivot distance, is it something different than Jelco indicates? I see something about it may be better at 210mm rather than 214mm suggested. Thanks for all your help.

    No worries. I'm running a Jelco 250 arm on one of my tables, but looking to upgrade it to the 750D myself. The 250 sounds excellent on my table and the 750 is supposed to be a pretty significant upgrade. I'm running the Jelco din to rca cable with my 250 and it sounds good. There's a guy on EBay called Dyson Audio that's actually local here to the Atlanta area that has some rather intriguing tonearm cables for sale. His totl tonearm cable is made from long-grain oxygen-free copper wire in a star-quad geometry with good quality WRT RCAs. It goes for $150. A buddy of mine that also has a Jelco 250 mounted on a SOTA Saphire table is looking to try this cable also in the next week or two. Honestly, I'm waiting for him to try it first and see what kind of improvement it makes as I'm pretty happy with the Jelco cable.

    I've also read where several folks have said the actual 750D mounting distance is 210mm. That is exactly the same as my 250 and the two use the same mounting base plate, so the 750D will be a drop-in replacement.

    I have never tried anything cryogenic treated, so I can't really say one way or the other. I have read both positive and negative reviews of cryogenic treated tubes, but I'm not sure if it pertains to tonearms or not.
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  • Dawgfish
    Dawgfish Posts: 2,554
    nooshinjohn wrote: »
    Everything in Minnesota is cryo treated if you leave it outside long enough... I will be in town the week of March 11th.

    Lol! Yeah guess you're right on that one!
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,009
    Thanks so much for the help! If anyone out there has any experience/opinions on cryo-treatment for tonearms or in general I'd appreciate hearing about it.
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