Greetings all,

I just aquired an ESL S2000 arm (my 7th arm for my 124's), in fantastic shape, mounted and ready to go. I got it thinking it would be a great match to my Ortofon SPU, but alas, the pin config. is different than the standard SME mount (pins are at a 45 degree angle in a diamond rather than square). So, I looked up the owners manual on vinylengine and I couldn't find any specs on the effective mass of this arm. I figured that I would match a good period cart to play with it, and mounted a Shure M3d, but the counterweight is half way back (I preffer to have it as close to the pivot point as possible), and although it tracks fine at 3grams (which is spot on for the M3d) it doesn't sound as lively as this cart sounds on my SME 3009. I did a little looking and the cart that ESL sold to pair with this arm was called the "redhead" and had a mass of only 5 grams!! This arm is so clunky and chunky I figured a higher mass cart would be the correct match, but even my Sumiko is over 7 grams, and the Shure I have mounted in it is almost 9grams.

Does anyone have the specs on this arm? I was thinking low compliance was the way to go, but now I'm a bit befuddled.:scratch2:

James R.

1. 3 grams is awfully low for the M3D.
2. The issue is not so much the mass of the cartridge but the compliance of the cantilever.
3. Why would you want to listen to an M3D anyhow? A very primitive cartridge.

Fred

I agree it is primitive, as are my Pickerings, but I find them charming non the less. My goal is to find the correct compliance match to this arm for a more modern cart. I was thinking about the Ortofon Red as it has an effective mass of 9grams, and has an output of 5.5Mv which would be perfect for the phono stage in my Fisher....but I don't know the specs on the arm for cart matching.

James R.

I guess you already checked here?

http://www.vinylengine.com/library/esl/s-2000.shtml

I couldn't download the file, so maybe the info isn't there? You'd think it would be, though.

No, ELS only gives vague descriptions and lots of sales hype. You can tell when engineers are in charge and vs. marketing guys. My Ortofon RS212's owners manual provides full specs including mass, mounting distance (ESL says to use provided template which is long gone for my arm, luckily it came in a 124 armboard) etc.

If it helps any of the math gurus out there to pin down the appropriate cart mass for this arm, the redhead cart that ESL sold to match this arm says that it has a "Dymanic mass of less than 2.5 x 10-3 (little 3 like to the 3rd power) grams"...whatever that means.


Anyone, anyone..

James R.

I've got the same arm, and by a process of measuring and elimination, I came up with 8 5/8 inches (220 mm or so) for the effective length, and one of the few pieces of data that Vinyl Engine has says 9/16 inch (16 mm) for overhang. I think the RedHead moniker is the headshell, which is red on mine. The shell is suprisingly light, so the arm may be less massy than it looks. I haven't yet balanced it in all three dimensions as the instructions at Vinyl Engine explain how to do, but it sounds pretty decent so far on a Rek o Kut with a moderately massy plinth -- I just slapped a worn Adcom High Output MC on it and played a record I don't care about just to see if the cables worked and so on. Nice and dynamic, so maybe our expectations or the shape of the arm is different. Or maybe its isn't a good cartridge choice.
By the bye -- that counterweight has holes drilled in it so that it is not symmetrical in weight distribution (for balancing in three planes) and is less massy than it looks.
Mine had rotted rubber in the decoupling device, so I replaced it with a piece of hard plastic (a bic pen cap or body, I forget which), and possibly that has an effect on the liveliness of the sound.

Would either of you have a foto of that ESL arm, can,t say I can picture it.

I'll try to get one posted but am very busy tonight and tomorrow, so if you are all eager, go the Vinyl Engine and download the manual -- it has a nice picture, though since it's black and white you'll have to imagine that glamourous red headshell.