Micro Seiki BL-21....Need Arm

[jim goulding]

Didn't see much on Audiogon myself today.

My MS is a BL 91. I looked at the picture. Is this a belt drive? Is there a tonearm mounting plate? Is the hole centered in the plate? Can it be rotated? You would only want to do this if the hole is off center and the reason is to give you some flexiblity in the distance from the arm hole to the turntable spindle for purposes of finding the null points for cartridge set up. If the headshell you wind up using is slotted this may give you enough play.

I believe that your cartridge of choice is a moving magnet design, no? These are usually more compliant than MC's and so you could go with lighter arms such as the Grace. Low compliant MC's like to see stiffness and more mass like the Premier aka Sumiko's "The Arm".

Buying a used tonearm makes me nervous because some have delicate bearings and who knows what kind of treatment the arm has had. That SME . . is it used? That's a pretty old model and kind of finicky. There are no slots in the headshell. It's mounting plate has slots for sliding the arm fore and aft for adjustment.

I believe the Rega 300 is $395 retail. The 250 lower than that. You may want to invest in one of those aftermarket sleeves for ease in selecting tonearm height in finer increments. And there are counterweight and stub aftermarket upgrades that cats like Michael Fremer swear by.

Did your table come with an arm? Is that it pictured?