Hi Folks,
some years back, I worked through the relationship between "effective tip mass" (ETM) a specification provided for many classic cartridges, and a key driver of the stylus tracking ability (low mass = low inertia = great ability to follow the groove "wiggles") - and the cantilever resonant frequency (ResF)
The original thread from 2012 is here
www.vinylengine.com
But the key thing is - this is the formula for the relationship between ETM and Resonant Frequency
Resonant Frequency can be measured with a decent test record - the difficult thing is getting a test record that has signals out to the frequencies required for some of the better styli (lower tip masses)
ETM =((1/(ResF*2*3.14159)^2)/[1.16 x 10^(-10)])
This can facilitate people comparing the best of yesteryear, to today's cartridge/styli.... if you can measure the ResF, you can calculate your tip mass
on a wide band F/R measurement, an MC's resonant frequency is pretty obvious.
And yeah effectively the ETM is a restating of the cantilever resonant frequency... (!)
An MM on the other hand, you need to calculate the impact of the loading circuit, and deduct it from the F/R to determine the "raw" response - which will expose the resonant frequency. (I may have to share my spreadsheet which does just that...)
some years back, I worked through the relationship between "effective tip mass" (ETM) a specification provided for many classic cartridges, and a key driver of the stylus tracking ability (low mass = low inertia = great ability to follow the groove "wiggles") - and the cantilever resonant frequency (ResF)
The original thread from 2012 is here
Calculating / Measuring Effective stylus mass- Vinyl Engine
But the key thing is - this is the formula for the relationship between ETM and Resonant Frequency
Resonant Frequency can be measured with a decent test record - the difficult thing is getting a test record that has signals out to the frequencies required for some of the better styli (lower tip masses)
ETM =((1/(ResF*2*3.14159)^2)/[1.16 x 10^(-10)])
This can facilitate people comparing the best of yesteryear, to today's cartridge/styli.... if you can measure the ResF, you can calculate your tip mass
on a wide band F/R measurement, an MC's resonant frequency is pretty obvious.
And yeah effectively the ETM is a restating of the cantilever resonant frequency... (!)
An MM on the other hand, you need to calculate the impact of the loading circuit, and deduct it from the F/R to determine the "raw" response - which will expose the resonant frequency. (I may have to share my spreadsheet which does just that...)
