New Transrotor TRA 9 tonearm

[audioquest4life]

This looks interesting. It is a newly developed tonearm by Transrotor based off of the SME platform they famously sold with the Transrotor turntables.

I spoke with my previous dealer in Germany yesterday and he said these tonearms are going to be very competitive with other highly regarded top end tonearms. Will see if I can get an example for the studio sometime in the near future.

Transrotor TRA 9 Tonarm

Aluminiumlegierung, Edelstahl, Messing, Keramik, Magnetmaterial, technische Kunststoffe, Silber, Eloxal, Chrom, Gold, Ruthenium

audiofeelings.at

 

[audioquest4life]

Here are some photos

 

[jfrech]

Great pics, thanks for posting. I am not sure why SME got out of selling tonearms, you can see the resemblance and the improvements. Such as the dual screw VTA adjustments...

 

[audioquest4life]

Great pics, thanks for posting. I am not sure why SME got out of selling tonearms, you can see the resemblance and the improvements. Such as the dual screw VTA adjustments...

Your welcome. Yes, definitely can see the resemblance. The review I read in German gave this tonearm some high marks and pretty much said that Transrotor did an excellent job with this new arm, and fills the void left by the elimination by SME for direct tonearm sales. I think it’s a brilliant move by Transrotor to go into this direction. I hope a 11 or 12“ version comes out later.

 

[miniguy]

This looks interesting. It is a newly developed tonearm by Transrotor based off of the SME platform they famously sold with the Transrotor turntables.

I spoke with my previous dealer in Germany yesterday and he said these tonearms are going to be very competitive with other highly regarded top end tonearms. Will see if I can get an example for the studio sometime in the near future.

Transrotor TRA 9 Tonarm

Aluminiumlegierung, Edelstahl, Messing, Keramik, Magnetmaterial, technische Kunststoffe, Silber, Eloxal, Chrom, Gold, Ruthenium

audiofeelings.at

Review

Transrotor TRA 9/2.1 Review

Eagerly Awaited – Transrotor has been building turntables for around 45 years. Now, the analog specialist presented its first tonearm. It was a long way, even further than expected, until the newcomer was finished; but the new TRA9/2.1 is a masterpiece.

stereo-magazine.com

 

[audioquest4life]

Thanks for that update. At the end, the summary revealed if you have a TR5009 or an existing SME V, no need to jump in line in a hurry to get the TRA9. Interesting.

 

[audioquest4life]

Well…the TRA9 in gold finish is on order, along with an Air Tight Opus 1.
Expected sometime in middle of January through middle of February.

My Transrotor turntable, an Apollon TMD, unfortunately only has two arm boards, so will have to remove the Benz Ruby Z and SME V arm to mount the TRA9. This arm will be compared to the already mounted SME V with Soundsmith Hyperion.

Well, I might just sell the Apollon and purchase the Tourbillion.

Will provide updates once delivered and setup.

 

[audioquest4life]

Finally, it’s here. Now to find time to install. It is really a fine looking tonearm with nice detailed CNC machine work. The gold finish makes for a different look than traditional matt black, black, chrome, carbon or silver finishes, but I was willing to go bold. Heck, I had a yellow corvette years ago and people called it mellow yellow, LOL, but I sometimes go against the norm, hence the gold version.

The TRA9 looks more sophisticated than the SME V but it’s technical adjustments also are more than the SME V. Standard 9”, SME mount, and XLR cables.

 

[gajgmusic]

Looks like a lovely and very well built arm. How have you found it in use?

 

[audioquest4life]

Looks like a lovely and very well built arm. How have you found it in use?

unfortunately, have not had time to install. Just been busy with other life matters. I hope to install soon. Will post updates and pics once installed.

 

[gajgmusic]

Understand completely. I am sorry to hear you have not put it in yet, but life is just like that. I often find, somewhat reassuringly, that life has many aspects other than audio, keeps things in perspective . Let us know.

 

[audioquest4life]

Updates: Finally got around to installing the TRA9. It was as simple as a installing an SME V tonearm. It was a straight bolt onto the turntable SME mount. The instructions seem simplified enough, in both English and German. After installing the arm and leveling it according to the included tonearm guide, the rest was fairly simple. Move arm holder according to the supplied guide, about 201mm, Install cartridge and do rest of your normal cartridge setup. I used the Wally tools protractor and used the 231 new records point.

The cartridge is the Air Tight Opus 1, which is still breaking in. I have not had time to use it much at all when it was installed on the other SME V arm. One thing about the head shell leads, they are like 1 mile / 1.6 KM long! You need to pay attention to dress the lead cables so that they are not sitting below the cartridge tracking area. Ask me how I know. Another potential area to swap and tune is definitely the leads.

The supplied phono cable is the latest Van Den Hul 501 silver hybrid with XLR connectors. I think I might order Analysis Plus straight DIN in the future, but for now, these work great.

I immediately could tell that there was more detail retrieval and slightly more humanizing of the vocals. Excellent!! The arm traverses the records with ease and just looks like a work of art. I am inclined to believe that perhaps this arm has a little more vibe compared to the SME And is more Gemutlich, auf Deutsche. But, I caveat that with having a new cartridge….and oh, just swapped out some NOS tubes in the phono for some new Linlai 6SN7s. Either way, I truly believe this is a fair contender to anything in the SME V class and higher. This arm already has had review s in the press with one person saying if you have an SME V, no need to rush and get this arm. I disagree, I felt that the TRA9 offers something different and better than the SME V. The SME V is a well designed and engineered arm and I think anyone willing to test the limits of what an SME V would sound like with what Transrotor has done with the TRA9, you should listen for yourself. After all, the SME V was the template that was used to make this arm and Transrotor kicked it out the park.


The tonearm lowering mechanism releases very very slowly. Cold syrup slow. I am not sure what I can do to tweak the lowering speed. When I measured VTF, there was a slight delay before the actual VTF reading showed on the Clearaudio tracking force gauge. Transrotor supplies an electronic VTF gauge as well. I did not use it as it serves the same purpose.

The tonearm rest has a dialed locking mechanism to secure the arm. It took too much time to dial it down to lock the arm in place, so I found a middle ground. Turn down the arm security knob just enough to grab the arm and cause a forceful grab with the tonearm lock dial partially dialed down. Works great. The arm is snug and secure when not in use and I can slide it out from the partially locked position when I play music without a full lock.


The dials (anti skate / tracking force) seem to turn with ease. I think comparable to the SME V. Adjusting the cartridge is easier than with the SME because you can adjust azimuth in the fixed head shell and in the SME V, you cannot. I was dialed in the Wally’s setup protractor and cartridge aligned in about 15 minutes. My initial setup was spot on when I started measuring using the Wally tools. The cartridge was also straight. This is easy to see because the TRA9 headshell has slats where you can see down from on top plus you always can use the supplied tools or others. I used the supplied one. Of course, I will go back with a slower mind set and double check things. This was my initial impressions with the setup instructions that Transrotor provided.
I have included a few pics.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

The tonearm lowering mechanism releases very very slowly. Cold syrup slow. I am not sure what I can do to tweak the lowering speed.

Beautiful arm, I'm sure it sounds gorgeous! Is there any chance you can compare the sound with SME V?

the lowering speed usually gets a bit faster with time as the new arm breaks in. Expect it to go a little faster soon.

 

[audioquest4life]

Beautiful arm, I'm sure it sounds gorgeous! Is there any chance you can compare the sound with SME V?

the lowering speed usually gets a bit faster with time as the new arm breaks in. Expect it to go a little faster soon.

Thank you. I think the TRA9 has the bones of the SME V, the essence. But, Transrotor built this arm to its own standards. If anything, I think what I am hearing is a more fleshed out version of an SME V. There is more depth, fine details, and oddly, more holographic spaciousnesses between the speakers, but in a way where I detect not just the stereo image, but the acoustic space dead center where the singers are mostly. That‘s what we strive for and the TRA9 easily makes this acoustic space more prevalent. Maybe I am just trying to pull stuff out and also I can’t discount the Opus 1s strengths either. This particular aspect stands out to, the way voices harmonize…they just simply sound incredible. The SME V is no slouch in this areal but the TRA9 adds a little more gusto to the voices. Maybe, the V is a little softer while the TRA9 has a little more sparkle. I am running my other SME V with the Soundsmith Hyperion and love that sound as well. The TRA9 adds just enough sparkle To the music but it is not overemphasized. I can easily listen for hours without problem. I am happy with the TRA9 tonearm. It offers all what I needed in the SME V and more With the azimuth adjustment. Plus, the installation was a breeze.

 

[mtemur]

It offers all what I needed in the SME V and more With the azimuth adjustment. Plus, the installation was a breeze.

IMO all there is needed to be done to SME V is to change horrible vdh inner cable with kondo. Once you start change vdh hybrid 502 tonearm cable too. and preferable with kondo ls-41. Then the full potential of SME V will be unleashed.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

Thank you. I think the TRA9 has the bones of the SME V, the essence. But, Transrotor built this arm to its own standards. If anything, I think what I am hearing is a more fleshed out version of an SME V. There is more depth, fine details, and oddly, more holographic spaciousnesses between the speakers, but in a way where I detect not just the stereo image, but the acoustic space dead center where the singers are mostly. That‘s what we strive for and the TRA9 easily makes this acoustic space more prevalent. Maybe I am just trying to pull stuff out and also I can’t discount the Opus 1s strengths either. This particular aspect stands out to, the way voices harmonize…they just simply sound incredible. The SME V is no slouch in this areal but the TRA9 adds a little more gusto to the voices. Maybe, the V is a little softer while the TRA9 has a little more sparkle. I am running my other SME V with the Soundsmith Hyperion and love that sound as well. The TRA9 adds just enough sparkle To the music but it is not overemphasized. I can easily listen for hours without problem. I am happy with the TRA9 tonearm. It offers all what I needed in the SME V and more With the azimuth adjustment. Plus, the installation was a breeze.

No surprise that the Transrotor did such a good job. I think they are one of the best turntable brands around. Also, they had to after Jelco quit and SME decided to stop doing OEM. There are a lot fewer good tonearms than there were a few years ago.

 

[audioquest4life]

IMO all there is needed to be done to SME V is to change horrible vdh inner cable with kondo. Once you start change vdh hybrid 502 tonearm cable too. and preferable with kondo ls-41. Then the full potential of SME V will be unleashed.

Your not the first person to mention that. A friend of mine in Germany also has a SME V and swapped out the VDH to Kondo and said essentially the same thing. I guess I need to check out how to acquire this cable.

 

[bonzo75]

IMO all there is needed to be done to SME V is to change horrible vdh inner cable with kondo. Once you start change vdh hybrid 502 tonearm cable too. and preferable with kondo ls-41. Then the full potential of SME V will be unleashed.

This is good to know, given the availability of SME. V arm, and vdh himself has used it often to voice his carts. So a bit unclear if they sound good with stock, vdh or kondo, but I guess it allows for flexibility

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

IMO all there is needed to be done to SME V is to change horrible vdh inner cable with kondo. Once you start change vdh hybrid 502 tonearm cable too. and preferable with kondo ls-41. Then the full potential of SME V will be unleashed.

I did hear about that upgrade too. I guess it's a good idea to investigate further. Maybe it's viable for other tonearms too.

 

[mtemur]

I did hear about that upgrade too. I guess it's a good idea to investigate further. Maybe it's viable for other tonearms too.

It’s viable for all tonearms. I changed couple of tonearms from various brands. Besides upgrading to kondo silver wire getting rid of vhd silver wire is equally important.