They can be really outstanding w. vintage cartridges

Posted by CometCKO (A) on June 21, 2012 at 07:34:09

In Reply to: How bad are the stock Empire tonearms...really? posted by Mr Blue Sky on June 20, 2012 at 23:14:46:

They are definitely high-mass arms. They have an unnecessarily bad rap however. With the right cartridge, they can be quite good. I had one set up with a Koetsu Jade for a while and it really sings!

It's an interesting design. Have you seen the pics of the demos of the arm playing LP's with the table mounted sideways or upside down?

The Empire 398 can really be a good table with very little work. The Papst motor is superb, a 3-phase design with an eddy-current motor that is superior IMHO to most other AC and many DC motors, especially if its power supply is optimized. The bearing and platter are also very good as long as they've had oil in them. The 398 is unsuspended, and needs both platter damping and base plate damping and a better plinth to sound its best. But even just throwing a new (correct width) belt on it, and new motor mounts, it can sound quite good.

I'm currently in project mode on an Empire 208, replacing the stock base plate with one machined from stress-relieved 1-1/2" cast aluminum. I've got the machining done for the motor and the center spindle bearing, but have not yet decided on a tonearm for mine.

If you have a Denon 103R, that can sound really, really good with the stock high-mass arm. It is another marriage made in heaven. But the stock arm is not so good with cartridges designed for low or medium-mass arms. I briefly tried a Stanton 618eee and a Shure V15 vMxR and neither sounded very good with that arm.

Hope this helps!

"Knowing what you don't know is, in a sense, omniscience"

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - How bad are the stock Empire tonearms...really? - Mr Blue Sky 23:14:46 06/20/12 (5)

RE: How bad are the stock Empire tonearms...really? - catama 21:52:47 06/22/12 (0)

Rewire it with Cardas or other good tonearm wire. - tubesforever 20:31:06 06/22/12 (0)

RE: How bad are the stock Empire tonearms...really? - dancingseamonkey 12:19:38 06/21/12 (0)

They can be really outstanding w. vintage cartridges - CometCKO 06/21/1207:34:09 06/21/12 (1)

RE: They can be really outstanding w. vintage cartridges - Phil_in_CA 09:19:10 06/22/12 (0)

Follow Ups

They can be really outstanding w. vintage cartridges - CometCKO 06/21/1207:34:09 06/21/12 (1)

RE: They can be really outstanding w. vintage cartridges - Phil_in_CA 09:19:10 06/22/12 (0)

They can be really outstanding w. vintage cartridges

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