Ordering a Bokrand Tonearm

[MarcusD]

Are you guys building your own cables that connect to the arm’s 5 pin?

Mine is wired from cart pins to RCA plugs in silver, so I dont have the 5 pin, I ordered my arm on the 30th of July and I got the DHL notification yesterday. Alfred has been pretty good with returning my messages etc. Although it may benefit him to change his expected delivery timeframe on Ebay from 20 working days to 50 working days , which would be far more accurate.

 

[MarcusD]

My Bokrand arrived here in New Zealand this morning in perfect condition

 

[Robert Young]

My Bokrand arrived here in New Zealand this morning in perfect condition

That's great Marcus!

One piece of advice, as a (very happy) Bokrand owner: Be extremely careful with the azimuth screw at the end of the arm. It can strip the hole very easily, and then Alfred gets really upset at you, because he said to "be very careful..."...I know this because i messed one up by over-tightening. Be super gentle!!

 

[MarcusD]

That's great Marcus!

One piece of advice, as a (very happy) Bokrand owner: Be extremely careful with the azimuth screw at the end of the arm. It can strip the hole very easily, and then Alfred gets really upset at you, because he said to "be very careful..."...I know this because i messed one up by over-tightening. Be super gentle!!

Noted, thanks for the heads up

 

[Macboy]

I am starting to get a little worried now.
Can not seem to get a reply from Email or Ebay and I ordered mine on the 3rd of June.

 

[Robert Young]

Are you using this email?

alfredbokrand at yahoo dot de

 

[Macboy]

Are you using this email?

alfredbokrand at yahoo dot de

Yes I have been in contact with him using that email a few months ago but since then there has been no response.

 

[Robert Young]

Well that worries me too. I’ll see if i can contact him…let’s hope he’s ok. He’s a lovely guy, and makes an amazing arm…

 

[Macboy]

Alfred has just made contact and is working on it now to send out this week.
Just a mix up with the order as well as some health struggles of which I am totally fine with and hope in no way I am pressuring the guy too much.

 

[Robert Young]

Alfred has just made contact and is working on it now to send out this week.
Just a mix up with the order as well as some health struggles of which I am totally fine with and hope in no way I am pressuring the guy too much.

That's good news. I know Alfred has had a number of health issues, and that has affected his production. But often people get really upset about the time it takes, and don't realize that he does this as a hobby, not as a business....I'm glad you have been patient: he respects that.

What is odd to me is that if one hunts down the complaints about the time it takes on Fora like this one, one would think that Alfred had a stack of arms waiting to be sold, and he was just messing with people. He makes every arm to order, and delivers an amazing product at any price. At the price he charges, this is, along with Maggies, the best value in all of audio.

When I ordered my Schroeder Reference nearly 20 years go, it took 6 months to get. That didn't bother me, and it never seems to bother anyone else who orders a Reference from Frank. And to those who say "but he promised me the arm in 2 months," or whatever, all I can say is what's your hurry? An older gentleman is hand-making an amazing arm for you: you can have it good and slow, or not at all.

Macboy, I hope you have a great cartridge ready for this arm! It loves SPUs. But I've recently found (as I have sold my SPU to move up the line) it also does really well with medium compliance and even some high compliance MMs, due to the split counterweight. Right now mine is just singing sweetly with a Supex 900 Super on an Oyaide graphite headshell. 3 days ago, I was using an AT V95E with a Stanley wood body and a cut-down stylus, on an Orsonic headshell, and it was so much better than it has a right to be...and I think it is this arm. Alfred is a genius, and a gentleman, and I will defend him to the....well, this is just a hobby, but you catch my drift.

 

[jodaco]

I ordered my Ortofon from him August 30 and received it today. I'm very pleased and lucky. This arm is a beauty!

 

[Macboy]

That's good news. I know Alfred has had a number of health issues, and that has affected his production. But often people get really upset about the time it takes, and don't realize that he does this as a hobby, not as a business....I'm glad you have been patient: he respects that.

What is odd to me is that if one hunts down the complaints about the time it takes on Fora like this one, one would think that Alfred had a stack of arms waiting to be sold, and he was just messing with people. He makes every arm to order, and delivers an amazing product at any price. At the price he charges, this is, along with Maggies, the best value in all of audio.

When I ordered my Schroeder Reference nearly 20 years go, it took 6 months to get. That didn't bother me, and it never seems to bother anyone else who orders a Reference from Frank. And to those who say "but he promised me the arm in 2 months," or whatever, all I can say is what's your hurry? An older gentleman is hand-making an amazing arm for you: you can have it good and slow, or not at all.

Macboy, I hope you have a great cartridge ready for this arm! It loves SPUs. But I've recently found (as I have sold my SPU to move up the line) it also does really well with medium compliance and even some high compliance MMs, due to the split counterweight. Right now mine is just singing sweetly with a Supex 900 Super on an Oyaide graphite headshell. 3 days ago, I was using an AT V95E with a Stanley wood body and a cut-down stylus, on an Orsonic headshell, and it was so much better than it has a right to be...and I think it is this arm. Alfred is a genius, and a gentleman, and I will defend him to the....well, this is just a hobby, but you catch my drift.

My thoughts exactly, well said Robert.

Nice to know some combinations that work. I have a Supex 900 super and an Orsonic headshell to get me started while working out what SPU direction to head in.

 

[adrianywu]

I have been using Alfred's arm for about 6 months now. I must say it has very low distortion, and the bass is clearly better than my SME3012; more extended and has more weight. I have been doing comparisons between my LPs and tapes, and some LPs are holding their own against master tapes.

 

[bonzo75]

I have been using Alfred's arm for about 6 months now. I must say it has very low distortion, and the bass is clearly better than my SME3012; more extended and has more weight. I have been doing comparisons between my LPs and tapes, and some LPs are holding their own against master tapes.

thanks for the feedback. interesting as Alfred is making dedicated arms now for DaVa field coil, with internal wiring

 

[Robert Young]

My thoughts exactly, well said Robert.

Nice to know some combinations that work. I have a Supex 900 super and an Orsonic headshell to get me started while working out what SPU direction to head in.

Great! I’m excited to hear your opinions!

 

[Robert Young]

I ordered my Ortofon from him August 30 and received it today. I'm very pleased and lucky. This arm is a beauty!

What a gorgeous table!!

 

[Fishfood]

I ordered my Ortofon from him August 30 and received it today. I'm very pleased and lucky. This arm is a beauty!

This is gorgeous! I ordered a banana arm from him a couple weeks ago for my 401.

 

[alfredbokrand]

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.

Adrian, tell me how heavy you want the counterweight to be and I'll send it to you for free.

do you still have my email address?

Best regards

Alfred

 

[adrianywu]

Adrian, tell me how heavy you want the counterweight to be and I'll send it to you for free.

do you still have my email address?

Best regards

Alfred

Hi Alfred,

Actually, the combined smaller and larger weights are working well since I put them right against each other. There is just enough space between the weights and the pivot, and that also means the lowest moment of inertia, which is ideal. Thanks.

 

[Fishfood]

My thoughts exactly, well said Robert.

Nice to know some combinations that work. I have a Supex 900 super and an Orsonic headshell to get me started while working out what SPU direction to head in.

Very interested to hear where you go with an SPU. I'm in the same boat. I'll be trying a Ortofon SL15 and a DL103 on the arm and eventually a Micro Acoustics 3002 but I really bought it for an SPU but I have no idea which one.