That is indeed interesting. could you please give me the email address you used to contact him?
Ordering a Bokrand Tonearm
- Thread starter Folsom
- Start date
I promised to write up my experience with my new Bokrand AB-309 tonearm, so here it is. After receiving the arm, I made an independent arm pod out of solid hardwood and installed M8 inserts at the bottom for three heavy duty steel feet. For the headshell, I use the Ikeda IS-2 with my Ikeda 9TT cartridge. Installation was straightforward using my Acoustic Systems SMARTractor tool. I aligned the cartridge with the Loefgren A / Baerwald IEC geometry. The tonearm is very well made, and the only things it has skimped on are the little conveniences. The VTA is adjusted by loosening a screw on the arm pillar and lowering the arm manually, like an SME 3012. Many expensive high end tonearms have calibrated, repeatedly adjustable VTA. There are aftermarket arm collars with this function buyers can use, but I don't adjust VTA with every record, so this is not a problem for me. I find that there is very little clearance between the arm lift and the arm tube. If I adjust the VTA to be level with a modern heavy record, playing thinner records will cause the arm tube to touch the arm lift. I therefore have to lower the arm to allow enough clearance with the thinnest records, but I have not noticed any tonal change when playing the heavy records and so this is fine. The counterweight is also rudimentary, relying on one or two brass weights fixed by tightening a screw on the side. My cartridge/headshell combination weighs 28 grams, and the larger weight by itself is already sufficient but it reaches pretty much the end of the stub. Dialing in the correct VTF if a matter of trial and error. The 3012 is more convenient in this respect with the little rider weight allowing finer and more repeatable adjustment. The Ikeda headshell allows azimuth adjustment with a larger screw that clamps tight the titanium connector and a smaller side screw that applies friction to the connector. I still have not worked out the best way to use these. Tightening either screw first causes the headshell to rotate, and it is a matter of estimating how much it will rotate and try to compensate for this. The azimuth adjustment of the tonearm is therefore very welcome. There is a small screw just behind the connector collar. Loosening it allows the headshell to rotate, and tightening it keeps the alignment fixed. No more trial and error ! My tonearm has continuous pure silver wiring from the headshell connector to the XLR connectors. The XLR plugs are wider than the clearance of the tonearm collar, which means if I want to remove the arm while leaving the collar attached to the arm pod, I need to desolder the XLR plugs. As my preamp also has Lemo sockets, I might change the plugs to Lemo.
On first impression, this set-up has very low distortion, due to the arm geometry that greatly reduces tracking error. The bass sounds more solid and reaches deeper than my 3012. The top sounds airy and there is good imaging and rock solid stability. The initial impression is very positive indeed. I will continue to assess the sound with more LPs. I have the 9Mono on my 3012 and the 9TT on the Bokrand. I will leave it this way for at least a while since the performance of the Bokrand has been excellent so far.
On first impression, this set-up has very low distortion, due to the arm geometry that greatly reduces tracking error. The bass sounds more solid and reaches deeper than my 3012. The top sounds airy and there is good imaging and rock solid stability. The initial impression is very positive indeed. I will continue to assess the sound with more LPs. I have the 9Mono on my 3012 and the 9TT on the Bokrand. I will leave it this way for at least a while since the performance of the Bokrand has been excellent so far.
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I have forgotten to mention the bias compensation. There is a magnetic bias compensation adjusted by a dial on the arm lift mechanism. The VTF is 2 gm and I set the dial to the middle. Using the 300Hz pure tone tracks on the HFN/RR test LP, there was no distortion on the +12dB and +14dB tracks, but the right channel distorted at +16dB. Adjusting the dial either way did not make any difference, so I am not sure it does anything. In any case, I have not encountered any problem with the few LPs I have played so far.
Congratulations for this nice tonearm. It´s a good looker and a good performer too.
Furthermore you should have asked for a heavier counterweight so it gets closer to the pivot. It's too far behind now. The closer the counterweight comes to the pivot the lower tracking distortions get
Sorry, but no. Hence this is a modification of the good old Ortofon AS-212 re-using all its parts besides the armtube of course the lifter can be adjusted in height. The lifter is only clamped with the small grub screw (see red circle).
Furthermore you should have asked for a heavier counterweight so it gets closer to the pivot. It's too far behind now. The closer the counterweight comes to the pivot the lower tracking distortions get
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This is very helpful. Thanks. Yes, the counterweight closer to the pivot will reduce the moment of inertia. I don't think Alfred has a heavier counterweight though, since he offers a two weight solution for the heavier cartridges. I tried using both weights, but the weights get too close to the pivot and interfere with the movement. I will see if there is an aftermarket heavy counterweight available.
You´re welcome.
Hmm, I see. Might be Alfred made the two weight solution to fit Ortofon SPU with about 32 gr. but before searching around for a long time, I would ask him directly for a slightly smaller second weight suitable for up to 28 g
Hooray - today finally again email contact to Alfred! He promised me my arm for this week. Everything will be fine...
Alfred is always ill, I guess because of his age he keeps taking orders for arms to keep himself busy. As they say something worthwhile is worth waiting for. My arm arrived after 3 months, I ordered another that's been the same and still not here, he says he has 30 arms in production.
a great day - my tonearm arrived today. A wonderful piece. The wait was worth it!
I actually just ordered one like 10 min ago via ebay direct message after a back and forth with Alfred.
He's making me a 9" banana version of the ortfon arm with an sme collar mount for my ES-1 table. He said he has 18 tonearms in the queue currently but offered a rush production time of 10 days instead of 20 days. So, perhaps he has resolved the previous issues I have read about during the spring. Anyway fingers crossed he can get it out within that time frame
Cheers,
Justin
He's making me a 9" banana version of the ortfon arm with an sme collar mount for my ES-1 table. He said he has 18 tonearms in the queue currently but offered a rush production time of 10 days instead of 20 days. So, perhaps he has resolved the previous issues I have read about during the spring. Anyway fingers crossed he can get it out within that time frame
Cheers,
Justin
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