Two pick-up arms; Five cartridges; combo compatibilities???

[RetroStereo]

I've discovered that you just can't slap any cartridge on any arm and expect it to sound good -- even when both the arm and the cartridge are well regarded. So, can someone aim me in the right direction?

Turntable: Thorens TD521, newly renovated, fitted with two, interchangeable pick-up arm boards.
Phono preamp: Michael Fidler's MM Pro Mk II (50Kohm, 120pF).

Arm #1: SME 3012-R (effective inertial mass ~14g), w/ five S2-R headshells (~7g), also one Carbon Fiber headshell (~5g).
Arm #2: SME 3009 series III (effective inertial mass ~5g) w/ two CA-1 arm tubes (original version).

I have the FD200 fluid damper kit for both arms, complete with S, M & L paddles. I also have available a variety of viscosities of the silicone damping fluid (20K, 30K, 60K, 100K & 200K).

I have a bunch of vintage cartridges (mostly NOS, still in sealed packaging, some questionable) and two new (meaning current) cartridges. All are either MM or MI.

ADC XLM Mk III
ADC ZLM
Shure M97xE
Shure V15 type V MR
Shure V15 type V xMR
Stanton 681 EEE Mk III
Stanton 881S
Nagaoka MP-500
Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250

How do I juggle cartridge weight, compliance, arm resonance, and damper/no-damper, which paddle & which viscosity fluid?

I'm not planning on changing cartridges on a daily basis. I can handle re-balancing and re-alignment easily enough when I want to swap. I put the ADC XLM on the 3012-R, and, yeah, that just didn't work. So high compliance cartridges need the type III arm. Where is the compliance / inertial arm mass dividing line? I thought I knew what I was doing. Rude awakening. Is there a website that lists all this stuff? Open to suggestions.

 

[drewdawg999]

I've always found vinylengine a good reference site for this kind of stuff. Here is their cartridge resonance evaluator:

https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge_resonance_evaluator.php

You just need effective mass of the tonearm, then a chart pops up, you want to be in the green.
Some prefer using a test disc, but I've never had one of those.

 

[RetroStereo]

Okay, thanks. That answers a lot of questions. I can look up the data on each cartridge and match it to each arm. Rough start: ADC & Shure cartridges on the type III arm and the Stanton, Nagaoka & Ortofon on the 3012R. Then use the FD200 to tidy up minor mismatches.

I did a little surfing and found lots of suggestions as to paddles & fluid viscosities. Consensus seems to be go light, increase paddle, then try a more viscus fluid. Lots of conflicting opinions, however most everyone agrees that the 200K fluid is serious overkill.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, every HiFi enthusiast knew about matching cartridge (compliance) to arm. LP was the only bulk source of high quality sound for personal music selection. So arm-matching was common knowledge.

It's about finding the narrow way between a rock and a hard place. If the resonance was driven too low the whole setup moved into warp frequencies (and overload and instability followed). If the resonance was too high it was on the audio band and caused audible Intermodulation distortion into higher frequencies.

Once a suitable frequency is achieved, damping the resonance can help, but too much damping widens the Q and risks it being affected by warps and also creating IM distortion, but at obviously lower frequencies.

 

[RetroStereo]

Thank you. In the '60's and '70's, I was a hanger-on with a group who knew their stuff. I ended up with a fantastic system, but the technical assembly was handled by people who knew what they were doing (mostly Bill at the Audio Center, Raleigh NC). After a major theft, I abandoned owning audio equipment for almost 45 years until I began reassembling a vintage/hybrid system about 5 years ago. Obviously, I have both a lot to catch up on and a lot to learn.