Arm rest is important. It keeps the arm in a fixed position. It prevents hands unintentionally hitting the arm and swinging the arm to the turntable and causes damage to cartridges especially with cartridges without stylus guard.
Supatrac Nighthawk Tonearm
- Thread starter SCULLERHBW
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I understand. The need for an arm rest is not quite so pressing with SUPATRAC arms because they have a limited range of movement. In most configurations it's impossible for the arm to escape to the right - the bias rig obstructs the thrustbox so it doesn't happen, and perching on the lever lift is quite safe.
However, I acknowledge the dissatisfaction with this part and I will redesign it. Like many of the changes I have introduced to SUPATRAC arms, I will try to make any new part backwards compatible and free of charge to all customers. I may also provide a 3D file to those customers who would prefer to print the part themselves.
A video instruction will help demonstrate and put users mind at ease
Cheers Beau - good to hear from you!
What are your arm board issues? I ask because I have supplied custom mounts for several decks, including Eat Forte, Brinkmann Bardo/Oasis, Kuzma Stabi S, Opera Consonance, Döhmann, ARO Keel, you name it.
Usually I design the part with information from the customer, print it in ABS and send for confirmation of compatibility. Once the customer confirms that the ABS mount works, I then make it in 7075 aluminium.
I may be able to help with your arm board problem. If that seems likely, please get in touch.
Yes - you're right, and by coincidence I finally found time to edit and upload an installation video yesterday which shows the bending of the arm rest. I will do a better, more detailed one when I have time, probably after Munich. Until then, here's the section of the installation video which shows the mysterious bending skillz:
@mtemur It seems to me to be the very essence of capitalism is to be able to say “If you don’t like it, buy something else!”. In the same vein, pricing in high end audio seems to have very little to do with the cost of manufacture and value is often divorced from pricing. And bling or appearance has even less to do with how a piece of gear performs. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why you think you are somehow anointed to be the official complainer about a product that I suspect you don't own and have never had any intention of buying. But since I haven't read all your posts perhaps that is unfair.
I bought my Blackbird when it was "only" $2500 and I wasn't particularly happy about the price increase to that level then but I do believe that that price, and possibly even the current pricing, wouldn't permit SUPATRAC to make a reasonable profit given the relatively low number of units that are sold the and high degree of support that such a novel design requires. Nighthawk will be sold in even lower numbers presumably to buyers that are comparing it to other arms that are at least that expensive. If they don't want it they don't have to buy it.
My initial experience with the Blackbird was very difficult. I think Richard described me as being uniquely unlucky in the sequence of things that went wrong. It was frustrating and time consuming, but he did provide me with a very high level of support resolving the various issues and that was fairly early in the company's process of learning how to ramp up production. In spite of the challenges I faced getting the Blackbird setup and working properly, there has never been any question in my mind that the performance of the arm was ultimately worth it.
If you want a shiny, no fuss tonearm there are plenty of options out there so buy them instead and realize the SUPATRAC arms might not be the right fit for you.
I bought my Blackbird when it was "only" $2500 and I wasn't particularly happy about the price increase to that level then but I do believe that that price, and possibly even the current pricing, wouldn't permit SUPATRAC to make a reasonable profit given the relatively low number of units that are sold the and high degree of support that such a novel design requires. Nighthawk will be sold in even lower numbers presumably to buyers that are comparing it to other arms that are at least that expensive. If they don't want it they don't have to buy it.
My initial experience with the Blackbird was very difficult. I think Richard described me as being uniquely unlucky in the sequence of things that went wrong. It was frustrating and time consuming, but he did provide me with a very high level of support resolving the various issues and that was fairly early in the company's process of learning how to ramp up production. In spite of the challenges I faced getting the Blackbird setup and working properly, there has never been any question in my mind that the performance of the arm was ultimately worth it.
If you want a shiny, no fuss tonearm there are plenty of options out there so buy them instead and realize the SUPATRAC arms might not be the right fit for you.
No, that’s not the essence of capitalism. “I didn’t like what I got for the money I paid”—that is the essence of capitalism. As the word capital suggests, the person who provides the money (capital) has the right to demand value, to question the quality of a product. People are free to buy whichever tonearm they prefer and don’t need a manufacturer’s approval to do so. That’s capitalism.
A manufacturer that wants to be successful should respond to customer questions, take feedback and complaints seriously, and never tell them to “buy something else from another brand.” Otherwise, the positive momentum behind Supatrac—fueled by effective marketing and promotion—may not last long.
Other customers appreciate honesty. I don't claim that the finish on a Blackbird is as good as that on a Linn Ekos or a Reed 5T. One day, perhaps, if I can find a way to turn a profit. But the finish isn't bad, objectively.
I do claim that if you use a tonearm primarily for listening to records it's better value because performance is my first goal.
Different customers have different priorities and that's why we have such a wonderful choice of equipment available today.
I can't afford a Bugatti, or the fuel for one, but I don't complain about its mpg, or the plastic parts in a McLaren.
Meanwhile, if you want to feel like you have a whole new record collection, SUPATRAC is ready to take your order.
Happy listening fellas!
I do claim that if you use a tonearm primarily for listening to records it's better value because performance is my first goal.
Different customers have different priorities and that's why we have such a wonderful choice of equipment available today.
I can't afford a Bugatti, or the fuel for one, but I don't complain about its mpg, or the plastic parts in a McLaren.
Meanwhile, if you want to feel like you have a whole new record collection, SUPATRAC is ready to take your order.
Happy listening fellas!
Richard,
Thanks for the offer. My issues were more with material I was trying to use and my plinth having a slight defect. All I really need is a 6" diameter circle that then needs to be drilled out to fit the arm's mounting pattern. I was trying to use slate initially to match the plinth but the pieces came back with surfaces not quite parallel. This could have been the fault of the original shaping or the shop I sent the pieces to. It's being straightened out now. Also found a slight deviation from level in my plinth. Getting several boards made with different materials. Hopefully soon I will have the arm in the system doing it's thing.
Beau
On the subject of pricing, the original thread on pinkfish media starts with me asking how to price my product before I had even finalised the original design. The consensus was that since nobody had heard of me and setting up a tonearm business was a fool's errand, I should introduce it as cheaply as possible to get it out there into the hands of end users and build its reputation if it really was as good as I claimed.
I took that advice and introduced the product at as keen a price as I dared, knowing that if the arm was liked, I would have to increase the price to stay in business. I am still in business but it's very tough because it's a tiny market - as I said, a niche (arm swappers) of a niche (vinyl listeners) of a niche (hifi buyers).
Understand that producers typically receive about 10% of retail. Everybody knows how to do it better than me, I'm told repeatedly, but I put to you that you would not do the work it takes to hand-make a Nighthawk for $1600. Trust me.
What is more, the Blackbird is still available for less than a Linn Ekos or a Thrax-built Schröder.
Criticism of the price often seems to come from people who have not heard either the Blackbird or the Nighthawk. I hope they will soon hear one and change their minds.
Happy listening, all!
I took that advice and introduced the product at as keen a price as I dared, knowing that if the arm was liked, I would have to increase the price to stay in business. I am still in business but it's very tough because it's a tiny market - as I said, a niche (arm swappers) of a niche (vinyl listeners) of a niche (hifi buyers).
Understand that producers typically receive about 10% of retail. Everybody knows how to do it better than me, I'm told repeatedly, but I put to you that you would not do the work it takes to hand-make a Nighthawk for $1600. Trust me.
What is more, the Blackbird is still available for less than a Linn Ekos or a Thrax-built Schröder.
Criticism of the price often seems to come from people who have not heard either the Blackbird or the Nighthawk. I hope they will soon hear one and change their minds.
Happy listening, all!
Thank you, Michael. I have lived with the Nighthawk arm since September 2024. I have listened to a variety of recordings with different phono stages and turntables. The initial observations I posted in September have been reinforced for me each time I have listened. To my ears, Richard’s design is extracting significantly more information from the grooves than the more traditional bearing-based designs I have heard. Of equal if not greater importance is the reduction of noise. Noise colors (or more accurately obscures) what has been recorded, and Richard’s design lowers the noise floor dramatically below what I have heard from tonearms that use bearings. Yes, the installation and maintenance of this arm may require a level of user input others do not, and fit and finish may not be at the level of other arms that have been on the market longer. But the Nighthawk arm represents the product of true innovation and inventorship, and delivers sonics that are superb. In a word, I believe Richard’s design reflects true “genius” in the sense of being original and advancing the tonearm art well beyond what preceded it.
Unfortunately when I set up the Nighthawk on the Wednesday before the 2025 Munich High End show it did not sound as good as the Graviton/Tesselate combination. I struggled to get it to sound right but was left a bit perplexed, and I understand that my arm was barely used from Thursday to Saturday. On Saturday evening Mark told me that he had reached the conclusion that there was a problem with the cartridge and asked if I knew of any good ones lying fallow. I told him I had a spare Audio Technica ART20 so we agreed to give it a try. Consequently on Sunday the Nighthawk began to show what it can do and was played most of the day. The press were gone by then, of course, but Mark Döhmann promotes both products at different prices, and he wasn't in a position to put a Tesselate or similar on my much more affordable arm to enable some kind of super-arm death-match. The Nighthawk has been available since Autumn 2024 and the arrival of the Graviton/Tesselate as a shipping product is news.
The Nighthawk/AT ART20 did sound quite good on the Sunday:
Since an Audio Technica cartridge doesn't often appear in rooms like this I asked some of the Audio Technica cartridge division to pay a visit and three of them came with me to hear this. I think they liked it!
The Nighthawk/AT ART20 did sound quite good on the Sunday:
Since an Audio Technica cartridge doesn't often appear in rooms like this I asked some of the Audio Technica cartridge division to pay a visit and three of them came with me to hear this. I think they liked it!
"...niche of a niche of a niche".
Puts it in some perspective, lol.
Can you say more about this costly research?
What as done, etc.?
I have seen Alex’s Korf blog, but I don’t recall seeing any Wilson-Benesch research published… but admittedly, they would have needed to have jump out at some point. And nothing on their website suggests research.
???
I thought that the capital was in equipment to make something and that the expectation is that the outlay would be recovered over time, or a return would happen from the investment.
A person with pockets full of coal, shekels, gold bars or notes, are using the cash as a financial instrument.
It is not capital unless it is invested in something to produce something that could not be produced without it.
The Supatrac Nighthawk arm and ART 20 sounded superb on the Sunday.
Very dynamic with lots of detail and without the sibilance that affected the WB combination.
Just coming across this thread and watched a brief few minutes of the installation video.
Not using a Linn jig during the installation, and tilting the plinth upright to get underneath, WHILE THE SUBPLATTER AND BEARING ARE RESTING INSIDE THE CUP, is a recipie for disaster. It is a good way to destroy the bearing. Just saying……..
Not using a Linn jig during the installation, and tilting the plinth upright to get underneath, WHILE THE SUBPLATTER AND BEARING ARE RESTING INSIDE THE CUP, is a recipie for disaster. It is a good way to destroy the bearing. Just saying……..
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