Thank you so much for sharing your extensive thoughts and experiences with both of these Kuzma arms! It truly is great to hear from someone who has experienced both of these on the same table with the same cartridge, no less
I had the same Technics in my system on demo before I went the Stabi R. I felt like Technics was a table I could have easily "retired" to. It was super super solid and pitch stable and had a sound that was just right and dead on and the whole thing was a push button operation. however I did not like the tonearm. The vta adjustment and range stunk. Also felt like it was just a bit cool or thin in the midrange region. So I went with the Kuzma which as you pointed out may be a little bit colored to the warm side. But that technics would be on my short list in a "downsizing" situation.
Thank you so much for sharing your extensive thoughts and experiences with both of these Kuzma arms! It truly is great to hear from someone who has experienced both of these on the same table with the same cartridge, no less
I appreciate you taking the time to help me as well as others that may be interested in these arms
Thanks again and best wishes,
Don
I am amazed how well the screw down clamp works with a washer to flatten records. Having used the Kuzma 4point on another table without such an option (screw down clamp) it seems like a must have. That arm does not like warps one bit.
Not sure how it actually impacts the sound but the 4point arm does not track warps well at all. The VTF varies greatly depending where the stylus is in relation to the pivot, this is probably the biggest drawback of this arm...when riding a warp the cartridge sees less VTF at the top of it....so as far as wether or not it effects the sound??? I do know it has an impact on the tracking of the arm, the mechanical aspect of it....it works as it should with a flat record.
I haven't had this problem with my 4Point 11" on some warped records I have regarding poor / mis tracking nor any difference to the sound whether the record is warped or not !
for me its a confidence thing....I had an SME V with dynamic VTF and there was zero bounce the cartridge with a warp.....with the 4p9 the cartridge dances all over the place but not necessarily mistracking....I just don't have confidence in the way that looks....however the 4p9 tracks better than the V regardless of a warp or no....but that cartridge sure can move around a bunch....That clamp gives the cartridge/arm a nice flat surface to navigate and my mind a little rest...
I wonder if the two inches of extra length help the 4Point 11 track better than the 4Point 9. My 4Point 11 cruises over warps that caused an epileptic fit with my previous arm, a Graham 2.2 with 10” wand.
There's that one tone poet reissue that was causing everyone problems with skipping. With 3 different cartridges on the sme v I got skipping too. When I put the 4p9 on the table it just sailed straight through the same lp with zero issues. I will say this was the only noticeable tracking issue I had with the sme. May have been something about the cartridge match too. But I did try 3.
I will also say there is something about the 4p9 that sounds extremely "right". I am a big fan of the sme v but when I put in the 4p9 I noticed immediately and sense of total control, like the arm and stylus were perfectly in the groove. It's a hard thing to verbalize but it sounded very right, solid and focused in a way no other arm I've heard does. Like there was something being removed and what was left was more pure.
