Resonant Frequency (of the cantilever) is the frequency at which the cantilever will become excited and vibrate out of control. This frequency is measured in cycles per second. Also referred to as 'Hz'. Resonant frequency of a cantilever is regarded as inescapable and the effect is controlled by manipulating this frequency to exist in a range below human hearing but not so low that it will become excited by external vibrations such as foot fall disturbance or that of a warped record. This ideal frequency range is 8Hz to 12 Hz. The lowest of low organ notes rarely go below 20 Hz. Footfall and record warps happen below 6 Hz. The effective mass of a tonearm in combination with the compliance of the cartridge cantilever serves to determine where the resonant frequency of a given tonearm/cartridge match up will be. In general terms, arms with high effective mass fitted with cartridges of high compliance result in resonant frequencies that fall below the ideal range. At the opposite end, arms with low effective mass mated to cartridges of low compliance result in resonant frequencies above the desired range. Both extremes are to be avoided. A phono cartridge with the compliance in the range of 5 to 10 µm/mN is considered as a very low compliance cartridge, a cartridge with the compliance in the range of 10 to 20 µm/mN is moderate compliance cartridge and a cartridge with the compliance value above 35µm/mN is very high compliance cartridge.

You can find al lot of Tonearm Data at Tonearm Database of Vinylengine

and Cartridge Data at the Cartridge Database of Vinylengine

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Cartridge - Tonearm Examples

Example 1: Goldring E3 with the Rega RB300 effective mass rating: 11.5 grams cartridge weight: 6.9 grams fastener weight: 0.5 grams compliance: 20 (11.5 + 6.9 + .5) * 20 = 378 sqrt 378 = 19.4422 159 / 19.4422 = 8.1780 Hz

Example 2: Denon DL110 with Rega RB300 effective mass rating: 11.5 grams cartridge weight: 4.8 grams fastener weight: 0.5 grams compliance: 8 (11.5 + 4.8 + .5) * 8 = 134.4 sqrt 134.4 = 11.5931 159 / 11.5931 = 13,7150 Hz

Example 3: Shure V15VxMR with the Thorens TP16 Mk 1 effective mass rating: 16.5 grams cartridge weight: 6.6 grams fastener weight: 0.5 grams compliance: 25 (16.5 + 6.6 + .5) * 25 = 590 sqrt 590 = 24.2899 159 / 24.2899 = 6.5459 Hz

Example 4: Ortofon 2M Blue with the Thorens TP16 MK 1 effective mass rating: 16.5 grams cartridge weight: 7.2 grams fastener weight: 0.5 grams compliance: 20 (16.5 + 7.2 + .5) * 20 = 484 sqrt 484 = 22 159 / 22 = 7.2272 Hz

Calculate Resonance, Compliance and Mass

Tonearm Resonance
Total Tonearm, Cartridge + fixing Mass :	[gr]
Cartridge Compliance :	[cu]
Resonance Frequency =	[Hz]

Cartridge compliance
Total Tonearm, Cartridge + fixing Mass :	[gr]
Desired Resonance Frequency :	[Hz]
Cartridge Compliance =	[cu]

Desired Tonearm Mass
Cartridge compliance :	[cu]
Desired Resonance Frequency :	[Hz]
Effective Tonearm Mass ( incl. mass of cartridge & fixing ) needed =	[gr]