Quote Originally Posted by jrhymeammo
While I do not have an answer to Reticuli's question, I'm not sure if I can agree with you.
Like you say, there are heavy LOMC cartridges with low complaince, but there are also plenty of heavyweight MC carts with higher compliance, such as top of the line Benz Micro, Ortofon, and Clearaudio.

I too have wondered why designers chose certain compliance#, but never cared to find out why....
I hear you, and i don't disagree. I used the word "generally" because you can certainly find exceptions to every "rule" in this hobby.

However, the following might help illustrate some reasons for the variance. But first I'd suggest that one of the issues that one can encounter when trying to compare compliance specs from different cartridges is that there is no universal standard for manufactures to report on the compliance of a cartridge. Therefore, it is often suggested to ignore the stated compliance specs and look at the manufacturers recommended tracking force instead. Generally (there's that word again!), the higher the reccommedned tracking force of a cartridge, the lower the compliance.

That said, let's look at a few cartridges and see what we can see. First, the Benz Micro LP Ebony MC, which is the TOTL Benz I think you may have referred to. Weighing in at 10.7 grams, it would fit into the medium compliance camp with a 1.8 to 2.2 g reccommeded tracking force. It does have a boron cantiliver with a LC stylus. Boron which is incredibly stong and light weight. Therefore, even with a cartridge that is heavier than the norm, the weight is supportable with the boron cantiliver without the need to increase tracking force (decrease compliance) to compensate.

Compare this to the venerable Denon DL-103. Lighter than the Benz at 8.5 grams, it tracks heavier at 2.5 grams. However, an aluminum cantiliver with a spherical stylus would require additional down force for good tracking.

Does this help define the reason for some differences?