10-03-2016, 12:12 PM
When to use or not to use a High Compliance cartridge can be a bit of a mystery so, perhaps, this post will clear matters up.
First, what is compliance, and what does it refer to? It is simply the inverse of stiffness and relates to how easily, or other wise, the stylus, its suspension and the active components in a cartridge respond to the groove modulation.
Probably the best known High Compliance cartridges are versions of the Sonotone 8T and 9T series which where manufactured in both high and normal (or low) compliance versions with the distinctive HC added to the relevant model numbers, thus 8TAHC and 9TAHC.
Does it matter which cartridge you use, after all the HC version is the best? Well, yes it is - but only when used in the correct arm.
Older arms use to have quite a high mass and are not so easy to drag around as their lightweight equivalents and the effect of fitting an HC cartridge will be clear from the diagram below. As the stylus follows the record groove, the pick-up doesn't move so the stylus becomes increasingly displaced from the correct position. After a short time it will have reached the limit of its elasticity, so something has to happen! If the stylus has twisted away from the vertical, it may just jump out of the groove but otherwise the badly deformed stylus mounting might simply drag the arm across the record or the arm might decide to just give in and jump forward! Whatever happens, it won't be right and the quality of reproduction will suffer.
An older cartridge in a lightweight arm doesn't fair so badly but the stiffness of the stylus suspension might attempt to lock the two together and try to transfer the groove modulation to the arm itself! The mass of the arm should render this impossible but is worth bearing in mind if the quality of reproduction is not as good as anticipated.
Which decks are suited to HC cartridges is not an easy question to answer. Most, if not all, of the slimline Garrard decks with the single hole cartridge mount are OK but whether this extends back to the original Autoslim, I not sure - remember that it isn't just a lightweight arm that is required but the bearing quality must also be impeccable to prevent excessive drag.
A useful exercise might be to compile a list of decks which were originally supplied with HC cartridges.
First, what is compliance, and what does it refer to? It is simply the inverse of stiffness and relates to how easily, or other wise, the stylus, its suspension and the active components in a cartridge respond to the groove modulation.
Probably the best known High Compliance cartridges are versions of the Sonotone 8T and 9T series which where manufactured in both high and normal (or low) compliance versions with the distinctive HC added to the relevant model numbers, thus 8TAHC and 9TAHC.
Does it matter which cartridge you use, after all the HC version is the best? Well, yes it is - but only when used in the correct arm.
Older arms use to have quite a high mass and are not so easy to drag around as their lightweight equivalents and the effect of fitting an HC cartridge will be clear from the diagram below. As the stylus follows the record groove, the pick-up doesn't move so the stylus becomes increasingly displaced from the correct position. After a short time it will have reached the limit of its elasticity, so something has to happen! If the stylus has twisted away from the vertical, it may just jump out of the groove but otherwise the badly deformed stylus mounting might simply drag the arm across the record or the arm might decide to just give in and jump forward! Whatever happens, it won't be right and the quality of reproduction will suffer.
An older cartridge in a lightweight arm doesn't fair so badly but the stiffness of the stylus suspension might attempt to lock the two together and try to transfer the groove modulation to the arm itself! The mass of the arm should render this impossible but is worth bearing in mind if the quality of reproduction is not as good as anticipated.
Which decks are suited to HC cartridges is not an easy question to answer. Most, if not all, of the slimline Garrard decks with the single hole cartridge mount are OK but whether this extends back to the original Autoslim, I not sure - remember that it isn't just a lightweight arm that is required but the bearing quality must also be impeccable to prevent excessive drag.
A useful exercise might be to compile a list of decks which were originally supplied with HC cartridges.
