Koetsu Onyx in ARO

Posted by: jpk73 on 09 November 2002

Hi!

I purchased a s/h Koetsu Onyx (short body modell retipped by van den Hul), and I have some questions regarding setup:

Do I need a new armboard for my LP12? Or can I just mount the Onyx in the Headshell of my Aro? I know how to setup my Troika, but I am not sure if the dimensions of the Onyx need any other changes e.g. armboard. Also I am not sure, because the ARO has only 3 round holes: it's not possible to align the body of the cart... does this matter?

Does my Prefix-K match the parameters of the Koetsu Onyx? And are there any other things to pay attention to?

- Jun
Posted on: 09 November 2002 by jonni
Unless by some stoke of luck the distance between the mounting screws and stylus tip on the Onyx is the same as the Troika you will need to have a new re-drilled arm board , and linn will only supply a blank one , so either you or a good dealer are going to need to drill it, and drill it accuratly +/-0.5mm.There is no point in useing a high end cartridge is the alignment is out.

I think their are/were arm tubes for the aro with slots instead of holes were you could align any cartridge.
Posted on: 09 November 2002 by quickie
quote:
Originally posted by Jun Keller:
_the distance between the mounting screws and stylus tip on the Onyx is the same as the Troika; you will need to have a new re-drilled arm board_

If the distance between the mounting screws and stylus tip on the Onyx is the same as the Troika: why would I need a new re-drilled arm board?

- Jun

You missed out the"unless by some stroke of luck"!
Posted on: 09 November 2002 by jonni
I'll try again

1.Onyx mounting holes to stylus distance same as Troika , no new armboard.
2.Onyx mounting holes to stylus distance diferent to troika , need new arm board.

If by lossening the bolts that hold the aro on the armboard you can move it so that the Onyx is aligned that will be fine.
Posted on: 09 November 2002 by jpk73
You missed out the "unless by some stroke of luck"!

Oh, I misunderstood! So I need a new armboard if the holes are not the same distance as the Troika! - But: how do I measure the distance?

Shahreza, Thanks for the link!

why does VDH do the re-tip? - I don't know... Seller did that...

- Jun
Posted on: 09 November 2002 by jonni
"I use an Urushi with the Aro and it works fine to my ears without having to drill a new armboard. The Prefix is "S" and I'm happy with it."

If the fixing distance is wrong ,that is if, do you know what it would sound like if properly aligned?
Works fine and happy enough, dont really mean much when it takes a very fine degree of accuracy to properly track a record.
Posted on: 09 November 2002 by MichaelV
Hi Jun,

I recently tried a Benz Ruby II, which definitely is very long, in my Aro - whow, what a sound! Maybe tracking towards the inner grooves wasn't perfect, but who cares ...
AFAIK, Naim claim other alignment-parameters to be more important ... just try and listen for yourself before starting to drill

Michael
Posted on: 10 November 2002 by jonni
I just bought a Formula 1 racing car.Lovely acceleration ,only goes up to 70mph though , who cares...?

Derrrrrr.
Posted on: 10 November 2002 by jonni
Sorry they, dont.
I think youre getting a bit confused.
The reason the aro has holes instead of slots is that holes give a more secure fixing for a cartridge.This they must feel is more impotant than being able to perform cartidge Zenith adjustment which is different to cartridge alignment , and on most high end cartridges should be perfect anyway.
The aro is designed to proper alignment with Linn cartridges and others of the same stylus to bolt distance , Lyra are the same I belive.
If you using another catrigde of a different length the arm needs to be in a slightly different place in relation to the spindle of your turntable , this does not compromise anything else.The normal fixing place is for Linn cartridges.
If you dont align your cartridge it may sound ok , but it wont have the performace you paid for.A properly aligned cheapo cartridge will out perform a poorly set up high end one, as tracking is a much more important issue that the quality of your cartrdige .Basically thoose who say other wize have not heard a properly set up high end cartridge.
I had a Wilson Benesch tone arm that was a few millimetres out of alignment, when it was put in the right place the sound stage opened up , treble emerged from the depths, bass was tighter and deeper , images more stable, what seamed like mono sound effects resolved into stereo , harmonies previously hidden were made apparant and there was much more emotion in the music.Surface noise was reduced and so was mistracking and end of side distortion.If that does not sound appealing then by all means dont bother doing the job properly.
Posted on: 10 November 2002 by Stephen Rodrigues
The distance from stylus tip to mounting holes in a Koetsu cartridge is not the same as for Linn cartridges. So by just bolting your Koetsu straight into the two front holes in the headshell of your Aro means the following: cartidge will be misaligned, will not follow Bauerwald curve, you'll hear end of side distortion, beginning of side distortion, middle of side distortion. It will be impossible to accurately set antiskating or VTA the correct way (by ear). This will also probably compromise the longevity of your records and cartridge also. VdH stylus profiles seem especially particular about correct alignment, if it was a bog standard AT95E or something, you probably would get away with it. What I had to do is get a machine shop to very accurately drill two more holes in my Aro headshell in the correct place. I also needed a heavier counterweight from Naim. Just out of interest, did you hear your Koetsu before Mr. Van den Hul retipped it? What difference did you note before and after. And finally, I sent my Koetsu to ESCo in March, it's still not repaired or returned. Fortunately, I also have a Roksan Xerxes with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature on-board, so I'm not without music, but not being able to use the LP12 is frustrating. Should I be panicking?

"...support your local independent dealer!"
Posted on: 10 November 2002 by Eric Barry
For most alignments, if you lengthen the overhang, as you would with a cartridge whose stylus tip to mounting hole distance is longer than Linn where the other parameters are fixed (as in the Aro example here), end-of-side distortion should be LOWER.

As long as you do not make the overhang completely overshoot, what you are doing in this case is moving the second null point towards the end of side. There are many who argue that this is how you should do it, such as Rega. They argue that you should minimize the maximum (usually end of side) tracking error, rather than minimizing the integral of tracking error over the record side. Do a search on the vinyl section of www.audioasylum.com for discussion and citations on this topic.

--Eri
Posted on: 11 November 2002 by jonni
Depends on what it was before.