That was my thinking, why market an arm that doesn’t match your own cartridges.
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You answered your own question before you asked it
The (latest and probably subject to change) plan is to use the Io1 in the groovemaster on a TD124 I’ve just bought, not sure if I’m going to be brave enough to buy an FR-64s from Japan.
Seriously contemplating the 12 inch Ikeda that’s on ebay at the moment instead of the groovemaster but I’d have to sell the PT turntable, phono, koetsu and a few other things to fund that.
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I have both an IO1 and an FR-64fx, but I haven’t tried either of them yet…
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I have an FR64S and was fortunate enough to try the 12" Ikeda for a spell a year or two back. Weird geometry but probably the nicest sounding tonearm I’ve ever used. Definitely cut from the same cloth as the 64S though. I’d guess there’s something in how the tubes are constructed and in how the bearings they use behave. They both have a smooth, refined & colourful quality to the sound that other arms seem to lack.
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Funny how rhetorical statements do that…
If it’s that IT-407 you’re considering, it looks in lovely condition. I reckon it’s a very good price too. A pound to a penny it’s Gordon Welford who’s selling that.
Yep that’s the one, Is he the guy that restores AI and Radford amps etc, from what I’ve read he’s very good?
I don’t know about that. He does/did build a lot of his own design amps though.
Groovemaster is a great arm
Which model?
Early 90’s Black Goldline, not the one made for koetsu but the first they made in house.
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That has a compliance figure 50% lower than an Io
Which arm are you currently using it on?
AO PU7
It’s around the same weight as the Io and much heavier than the new ones are listed as
Yes, but it still has a compliance which is half that of an Io. An Io Ltd has twice the mass of an Io but the compliance is the same.
As for the AO PU7 it is impossible to comment as there is no standard effective mass AFAIK, they are ‘tuned’ to suit your cartridge
Have no idea what cart it was loaded for but I assume it was a Koetsu as that was what the guy I bought it from was using.
That’s fine then.
The point I’m trying to make is that there are many cartridges with lower compliance than an Io. Apart from the Koetsu Blackline all of theirs are lower, as are all Shelter cartridges.
Anyway, the figures only tell half of the story. Some combinations I’ve tried shouldn’t work, yet still do.
Koetsu’s own tonearm has an eff mass of 18g. The GM MKII is 22g although I’m not sure what the Titanium version is? I’m using a Koetsu in mine and it sounds right.
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60% denser so I’d guess at close to that much heavier so probably around 30-35 grams?
They may have been able to use a thinner walled tube while maintaining the rigidity.