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#16 Re: Cartridge Isolation.

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 2:54 pm
by rowuk
If one is worried about the integrity of White/Blue/Black Tak in a tonearm scenaio - use nylon screws after application of the X-Tak and do not tighten them until they stretch... My SME 3009 came with some similar Black-Tacky stuff too. Never unpacked it. I have some plumbers caulking that works great and does not dry out.

I am not sure that isolation is what this does. In my case it makes the mass perfect for just under 10Hz resonance. The arm has serviced (over 35 years) an Ortofon MC20/MC30 and most recently an Ortofon Rohmann. Metal knife mod RCA mod and Van den Hul rewire. I can track everything on the Shure Era 4 test LP.

My LP and digital playback have essentially identical tone. The differences are more the way that space is presented. Not more or less, rather just different.

#17 Re: Cartridge Isolation.

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 5:04 pm
by Cressy Snr
Cheers Rowuk,
I’ve just fitted a set of nylon bolts and nuts I got off our Ant ages ago. Unlike the metal bolts, there are no ill-effects on the sound with the nylon. :)

#18 Re: Cartridge Isolation.

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:48 pm
by rowuk
Fantastic. I will try the nylon myself. I used nylon screws with another tonearm - never thought of trying them here. Caulking is still mass for me. Maybe there is a different effect with the screw.

#19 Re: Cartridge Isolation.

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 10:50 pm
by andrew Ivimey
I've used nylon nuts & bolts here. Fine but overtightening is easy.

#20 Re: Cartridge Isolation.

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:08 pm
by Toppsy
Steve,
rummaging through some my boxes of old audio related stuff I came across The Cartridge man Isolator that I'd forgotten I had. I seem to recall many years ago a work colleague and fellow audio enthusiast gave it to me as a gift to try out. Checking the web they cost £85! My mate had differing results with it and preferred his vinyl arm/cartridge setup without the isolator. Having searched on the web I came across 2 reviews, one positive and one negative. So it does seem to be arm/cartridge dependant. Anyways finding this I thought you might like to try it out with your current cartridge isolation experiments?.

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Checking out on the web it seems this was supplied in two variants. 1) for cartridges with threaded mounts and 2) for cartridges with bolt fixings. As I have a current lone of a Benz Micro Glider mounted on my Hadcock arm and the 'Isolator' is for bolt mounting cartridges I can't really try it out myself. But should be OK for your setup with the SME. You'll need some double sided tape to mount your cartridge to the unit, but I some I can include if you don't have any?

If you're interested contact me off forum and I'll arrange to post it to you for the cost of the p&p only.

#21 Re: Cartridge Isolation.

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:34 pm
by Toppsy
heard back from Steve via PM that due to a couple balancing issues he has with his SME3009 arm he won't be able to try out the @isolator'.

So the offer to try this out is open to other members. Ant takers?