Mørch
MØRCH tonearms, the models DP-8, DP-6 and UP-4 are an example of high technical standards and attractive styling.
To Hi-Fi circles all over the world, the name MØRCH was known for their turntable manufacturing in the sixties and seventies. This experience over the years led to experimenting with all types of tonearms in order to gain greater insight into the turntable/tonearm interface.
While observing correct design fundamentals, crucial parameters such as choice of materials, a new approach to mass distribution, and elimination of arm resonances required in depth study for the design of an exceptional tonearm. This research resulted in the invention and patenting of an entirely new concept of tonearm.
The MØRCH tonearms consist of an arm base with its mounting facilities, bearing assembly, balancing rod and weights, and the armtube for the cartridge. One appealing feature of the MØRCH design is the armtube, which can be separated from the arm base by removing a nut. Three armtubes, each one of different mass – light, medium and heavy – are available for specific cartridge requirements.
INTRODUCTION OF THE DP-8
On the 4th of July 1981, Hans Henrik Mørch sent out a new tonearm to his auditioners. It was a prototype, a UP-4 modified to have greatly improved deep bass performance. But at that time audio equipment was not very concerned with the deep bass reproduction of vinyl records – the auditioners did not hear much improvement, and the project was abandoned. Somewhat ironically the introduction of digital audio helped advance the quality of deep bass – for instance, subwoofers are now commonplace. After 25 years the old prototype was dusted off and eventually became the DP-8. The improvements in deep bass and dynamics are now evident…
For this new model the effective mass for the horizontal mode of motion is many times larger than the effective mass for the vertical mode of motion – no matter the effective mass of the armtube used. This provides for tremendous improvements in bass response and a lot more dynamics.
The DP-8 got the Golden Ear Award in The Absolute Sound June/July issue 2010. In the article, the author refers to the DP-8 as “anisotropic”, which is a short technical way of characterizing the new features.