"New" Terminator air-bearing linear tracking tonearm

[spiritofmusic]

I've been running the original Terminator air LT arm since 2013, and have not looked back. It took some time to "tame" it. As w all LT arms, the air bearing means that setup needs to be optimal, both in terms of level, and freedom of air supply etc. But get this right, and you're rewarded with a hugely rewarding playback experience.

Bass is deep and tuneful but absolutely start/stop as it is in reality. There is a misconception, urban myth even, that bass is thin and wispy on LTs. On Terminator, nothing of the sort.

Mids are crisp and textured, again way more like real life than many pivoted arms I've heard.

Treble is crystalline and incisive, no hint of metallic bite.

Soundstaging also benefits, I guess lack of bass smear allows a decluttering of the music to allow many spatial and temporal cues to emerge.

I moved from an SME V w Van Den Hul internal wiring to go to the original Terminator after 13 years of sterling service, and the uptick was substantial. Some adopters of Terminator moved from way more prestigious arms like SME, Graham, Airtangent, Airline, and I've heard some great pivoted arms since, incl the 12" SAEC 506 at UK Paul, but I was in no way minded to move away from original Terminator...

...until yesterday Lol, when I installed New Terminator, recently received from Andrey Shishlo, who has taken over production from original designer Vic. Andrey designed the makeover w help from fellow audiophile Heino Fagernes. So, a Russian/Finnish/British/US co-production (Vic is a US born guy living in UK).

So, the original design is replicated, a rail/slider system utilising a gentle cushion of air, low pressure and flow at 2-3 Bar (as opposed to high pressure systems like Kuzma Airline and Airtangent).

It's hugely non fussy other than demand for level and freedom of feed to the arm, and need to keep the small pump outside the listening room.

The main changes have been moving from all-Aluminium rail/slider/armwand to a 3-way mix of Aluminium rail/Brass slider/carbon fibre arm wand. This has improved things by better resonance control, and the ability to machine smaller more uniform air holes, resulting in gentler, less turbulent air cushion.

Less vibrations = more resolution. What it's all about.

I am gobsmacked by what I'm hearing. Was skeptical such a great sound could be improved upon, but the step change in bass reproduction, tighter and more articulate, has carved out the soundstage way more than before, w mids really neutral and transparent, and way more micro resolution into the treble.

This is hugely impressive, and at €1100, a total bargain in the high end.

Happy to expand further if any Qs come in.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Photos for Marc since he doesn’t know how to upload:

 

[spiritofmusic]

Thanks to Bill, my all-round tech Man Friday Lol.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Link to the arm

www.musicfromvinyl.shop

 

[spiritofmusic]

I would love to open up this thread to all things LT arm related. I know that me, Carolus, Audiophile Bill, The General and Mik all have great day to day enjoyment of our vinyl via LT. There's plenty to talk about on the subject.

Just like Idlers, a cult within a cult.

 

[bonzo75]

Gian, Pietro, Rhapsody?

 

[spiritofmusic]

The more the merrier?
Not you, Ked?
Terminator would absolutely complement Schopper v nicely.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Tbh Ked, you are the ideal target consumer for Terminator. You are already sold on the benefits of LT, but won't pay the prices demanded.

 

[PeterA]

Marc, can one install this arm on a multi-arm table? Does it lift out of the way, or is it permanently in the down position?

 

[bonzo75]

I don't know terminator well, but the whole issue with LTs is that there are too many issues with LTs until you pay up for Vyger or wait for Mik to gift an air tangent to a fellow Indian

Bergmann Sindre already and in a few years Galder will carry excellent value in the used market. If I do choose to go red sparrow that's the natural choice, but otherwise I like pivots.

Sonically there are pluses to both.

I see no reason to make either belt/idler/direct thing a religion nor this. I would rather go on a case by case basis.

 

[bonzo75]

And to correct, Mik, Gian, Pietro already use multiple arms including LTs, not only LTs.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, you're wrong on dismissing air LTs until Vyger. Terminator is a perfectly admirable example of an arm that plays out of it's skin, it's fatal attraction being it does this at real world pricing. You don't think people would replace their various SMEs, Grahams, Air Tangents and Airlines w it if that wasn't the case.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Marc, can one install this arm on a multi-arm table? Does it lift out of the way, or is it permanently in the down position?

Peter, it's a fixed install, so the arm gantry is fixed over the platter. One could run up to three arms, but the other two would have to be mounted on the front of the tt.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Then again Peter, I'm not greedy. One arm sporting one cart that is actually v good at mono as well as stereo, means I'm good for the couple of dozen jazz mono lps I own.

 

[PeterA]

I used to think one arm one cartridge was enough also Marc but now I have four cartridges and will soon have two arms, I hope. I was just curious about the arm lifting out-of-the-way because it would be more flexible in a multi arm scenario. Perhaps we will see more members buying this LT arm. Hard to say.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Peter, the arm is not convenient in that respect. It really only suits users w one cart. That's me and many others. Otoh, the armwand can be installed in seconds, you could have 4 seperate armwand/cart choices.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Three days in, and the new arm is really confounding expectations. I truly was not expecting this much uptick over the original arm, and overall enjoyment. Bass reproduction is radically impvd, the perfect balance of incision/agility, and body/warmth. This is especially noticeable in jazz acoustic bass where fatness and articulation are in perfect balance. And from this controlled but expressive bottom end, is revealed a midrange w way more sounstaging than I'm used to. Indeed I used to think I was a bit immune to imaging, but this arm is putting me right. Drums in particular benefit from reproduction of air around them, making jazz in particular way more believable. Treble is revealed as way more delicate and shimmering than before.

Next up is replacing my current tonearm wire w an Ikeda silver loom, terminated w Cardas cart tags and Bocchino RCAs. Tentative plans to commission a bespoke silent high quality pump and LPS.

 

[microstrip]

(...) Tentative plans to commission a bespoke silent high quality pump and LPS.

Just drill an hole in the wall and put a big air tank outside the house using a long pipe. Magic electrons do not flow in air bearing pipes, just air molecules.

 

[PeterA]

Congratulations Marc. Many of us audiophiles think our systems are just great right until we insert something new and they suddenly deliver new never before imagined sound, right in our own listening rooms. I find this phenomenon quite common. I suspect your new room allows you to hear improvements much more clearly.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Francisco, the new arm is already proving a vast impvt w calmer less turbulent air flow w the new design. It's a bit dismissive to ignore the effects of air flow to the arm. Otherwise all the SOTA air bearing arm and tt marques would take up yr suggestion.