I've got a mint Kenwood KD-550. Basically the same as the 500 but comes with a japanese S tonearm. Currently I've got a Shure M97xe cart on it. I'm looking to upgrade this tonearm. I'm considering an Infinity Black Widow (if an when available) or a Moth OEM RB300 (469 on Audiogon with Incognito rewire). I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which would mate better with this table.
What cartridge would you use with the Black Widow? There aren't many current stock cartridges that mate well with such a super low mass, low friction arm. I'm not sure why you would be interested in the Infinity arm in the first place. Because it is of the same vintage as your table? The knife edge bearings of the BW were quite the thing in 1977 but they were easily surpassed by most arms designed in the 1980's and since. I traded my BW for a Rega RB300 way back in 1984 and never looked back. The Infinity arm chatters away with most cartidges and just doesn't offer the stability of even the low priced versions of the Rega arm. The RB250/300 can accept virtually any cartridge within reason and has many modifications to improve its performance. Unless you're looking for a museum piece, forget the Black Widow.
I had read that the ultra low mass of the BW mated well with a heavy table like the 500/550 but I've also heard many bad things about it along the lines of what you stated. I have a Shure V15 III I would consider mounting on it. I am also looking to purchase a Denon DL 110/160, which would probably be a terrible match for a BW.
When it comes to audio cables, I've never bought much stock in super expensive cables. However, everyone raves about the improvement in performance of a continuous run of the icognito on the rb300. Is it really worth the extra $$$? Also is the VTA easily adjustable on a new stock rb300 or that upgrade a must? Thanks for your advice.
Both the Shure and most particularly the Denon would be very bad matches for the Black Widow. The mass of the tonearm vs. the mass of the table is not an issue on a non-suspended turntable.
I don't know what you hear so I can't answer any questions about value of a product. The VTA of the RB300 isn't adjustable without optional purchases.
I ended up getting a new aftermarket stylus from Ed Saunders for my Shure V15 III and put it on the OEM Kenwood arm. WOW! What a sound difference over the Mx97e. It's as if a veil has been lifted. The high end is there and sounds clear and smooth!
I am still going to look for a RB250 to modify or already modified with a Michell Tecnoweight and a VTA from Michell or OL. Supposedly these modifications lift the performance of a 250 over a 300 with the same changes.
"I am still going to look for a RB250 to modify or already modified with a Michell Tecnoweight and a VTA from Michell or OL. Supposedly these modifications lift the performance of a 250 over a 300 with the same changes."
I'm not sure what you mean by "the same changes". The VTA will not by itself introduce any improvement in the arm's performance. VTA adjustment is on a record by record instance. Each disc you play will have a correct VTA for that specific disc. The stock Rega arm doesn't allow for VTA adjustment on a disc by discs basis. Adding the VTA adjustment will give you the ability to alter the setting for each disc you play. Be warned, however, doing so is a bit of a pain in the butt.
If you want to compensate for any discrepancies between the VTA without adjustment and the VTA after adjustment, you will notice a difference in the two results simple because you are changing the way the stylus traces the groove. However, there is no standardized VTA. Each record might be slightly different than the next and bunches of records might be close enough that changing the VTA is uncalled for. But, when you change the stylus rake angle (that's what VTA adjustment is doing), you are doing so by ear and not by any scale that indicates correctness. To make adjustable VTA work, you have to go through a rather tedious procedure of playing the disc with several VTA settings and making an arbitrary decision which setting sounds best to your ears. Then you mark that on the disc and reset the VTA each time you play that disc. Along with cleaning the disc and stylus between disc sides, you will have added more procedure to complete before you can actually hear music. Only you can decide whether your ears and your system will benefit from such a procedurally tedious task with fairly small incremental and arbitrary changes for each disc.
On the other hand, the heavy counterweight is a one time tweak. The only adjustment required is when you change some thing on the arm/cartridge - such as a new cartridge. The overall improvements that come with the heavier counterweight are better bass definition and more solidity to the soundstage. Neither benefit is earth shattering in its effect but, in the scheme of all tweaks put together, can be beneficial to the Rega arm. You should, in my opinion, be making large improvements to the system before this level of tweak becomes worth the money.
The debate over which Rega arm is "better" has been going on for several decades. Both arms have their advantages and compromises. Don't believe everything you read about one arm being superior to the other. Rega still sells the 300 at a premium price over the 250 for good reason. A modified 250 still has the same compromises as the standard arm and isn't going to overcome those disadvantages merely by adding a heavy counterweight and a VTA adjustment. The differences between the two arms are largely structural and are not solved by simple tweaks. (Though you can make a 300 behave as if it were a 250 while you can not go the other way.) For one thing, the counterweight of the 250 places the lower priced arm at a disadvantage when tracking warped or off center discs. Unless you have a table that can suck out all the warp and adjust for concentricity, there's a good cahnce a 300 would track the disc better than a 250. VTA has nothing to do with this ability and the heavy counterweight would give the same benefit to both arms. The 250 has grown in stature as a low cost champ more than as a way to beat the more expensive arm.