Ortofon 2M Red – upgrade recommendations welcome :-)

[JeffS7444]

How exactly would I check whether my SL-1500C’s tonearm has play too or not?

I grasp arm tube between my thumb and forefinger, and give it a light jiggle. If something's too lose, there may be a hard to miss clatter. If you notice nothing, or aren't sure, it's fine. IMO, it's better if it's a smidgen too lose than too tight. TBH, I don't know how much real-world sonic difference any of this makes.

 

[JeffS7444]

BTW: Here’s an observation that I find hard to evaluate:

My still pretty new Technics SL-1500C w/ Ortofon 2M Red shows a slightly poorer tracking ability compared to the combo I had before: vintage Sony PS-X60 w/ AT-VM95E. »Evaluation problem« with this: The test record used in both cases is several decades old.

Oh, that changes things a bit: That Sony dates back to what I think of as vinyl's technological pinnacle years which have never since been equaled. Biotracer active tonearm was specifically designed to make matters of tonearm/cartridge matching moot. It was actually kind of a big deal, but the Compact Disc was an even bigger deal.

 

[Pauli]

No Biotracer tonearm on the PS-X60. See this illustration I created of it before I sold it ...

Sony PS X60 Illustration — Postimages

postimg.cc

 

[DSJR]

How exactly would I check whether my SL-1500C’s tonearm has play too or not?

Hold the headshell and GENTLY try rocking it/rotating it from the front as mentioned above. The latest models almost certainly WON'T have any issues - the SL1500 from 1975 has a tractor-like fixed-height tonearm in comparison - not a criticism, but not as finely made as now and of a suspected higher mass which again is fine for today's pickups!!!

 

[Pauli]

OK – could detect no play that way

 

[DSJR]

OK – could detect no play that way

Great. One less thing to worry about

 

[Pauli]

Guess I have to order that notorious Ortofon test record finally, just to eliminate the possible confusion caused by my possibly worn down vintage test record.

 

[JeffS7444]

I found a handy online calculator which models how a tonearm + cartridge combination is likely to perform, provided that certain details, such as the compliance of the cartridge, are known.

https://korfaudio.com/calculator

Ortofon 2M Red, Blue compliance: 20 um/mN
Ortofon 2M Bronze, Black: 22 um/mN
Denon DL103 compliance: 10-12 um/mN

And the effective mass for SL1200 tonearm: I've seen references of 12 grams.

When I was using the SL1200 + Denon DL103, I loaded the headshell with additional mass in the form of a claylike weather sealing material, but have since discovered tungsten putty: Great stuff, non-toxic, and greater density than lead.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Blue a much better than Red

 

[mike70]

Be careful ... Japanese cartridges have the compliance specified at 100 hz (not the standard 10 hz), so you can't compare it directly. The compliance is higher at 10 hz,more or less multiply by 1.5