Pivoting Linear-Tracking Tonearms

[108CY]

Bill I is certainly not the most extended but very tuneful but its not exactly weak its quite linear. It also depends on cartridge and arm board it will not work with the sparrow but loves the Etsuro Gold and the allearts also the ikeda 9 gss.

Ron it is a large arm and can cause issues on some turntables I cant see it being a problem on yours also the stable platform should work really well I would have thought.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Bill I is certainly not the most extended but very tuneful but its not exactly weak its quite linear. It also depends on cartridge and arm board it will not work with the sparrow but loves the Etsuro Gold and the allearts also the ikeda 9 gss.

Ron it is a large arm and can cause issues on some turntables I cant see it being a problem on yours also the stable platform should work really well I would have thought.

Thank you for this very helpful information, Mik!

Have you had an Opus 1 or a ZYX UNIverse Premium or a Grado Epoch on the 5T?

 

[108CY]

Thank you for this very helpful information, Mik!

Have you had an Opus 1 or a ZYX UNIverse Premium or a Grado Epoch on the 5T?

Hi Ron I have tried the opus one and epoch on the 5t not the zyx

 

[pweg]

It looks great!

Reed offers a few different metal finish options, including:

Seashell White

Ruthenium Glossy

Palladium Satin

Which particular Reed metal finish is on your tonearm?

seashell white

 

[Frankintime]

A true classic!....linear tracker with sota vibration control.

 

[kalutty]

Thales:

Pros: Purity, no tracking error so no bullshit with different flawed alignments, sota sound.
Cons: still have to deal with antiskating

This is exactly the tt setup I'd like to build someday. Do you have an IG account to see more of it?

 

[Rensselaer]

I am upgrading my Garrard 301 with machined chassis, heavy duty bearing and machined oversize 20kg brass platter from Classic Turntables, mounting it in Panzerholz on Townshend seismic pods and attaching a new Reed 5A tonearm. The tonearm I bought is wired with Van Den Hull 33AWG x4 + 5 pin DIN male. What tonearm wire from the DIN to my Phasemation T-2000 SUTs does this august group suggest? (MC = Phasemation PP-2000, Phono stage Ypsilon).

 

[Shuggie]

The Zavfino 1877Phono Gold Rush. https://www.zavfino1877.com/goldrush looks interesting, and it's not a silly price, so I have ordered a couple in to try out. It's an interesting mix of gold coated copper and pure silver conductors, with a dielectric partly composed of graphene, but otherwise construction is similar to other Zavfino cables, so I'm moderately excited. You'll be able to try one out.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I will eagerly await your report on the Reed 5A. (I am still planning to order a Reed 5T specifically for the Grado Epoch3.)

 

[Rensselaer]

I will eagerly await your report on the Reed 5A. (I am still planning to order a Reed 5T specifically for the Grado Epoch3.)

I have the Reed 5A here with me, needs assembly which looks complicated. I sent the mount and mounting jig to the fellow building my plinth, which will be finished when my turntable is finished so I expect it will be somewhere near the end of June before I personally can report what I can about the set up and use of the Reed 5A. Please bear with me.

 

[Rensselaer]

The Zavfino 1877Phono Gold Rush. https://www.zavfino1877.com/goldrush looks interesting, and it's not a silly price, so I have ordered a couple in to try out. It's an interesting mix of gold coated copper and pure silver conductors, with a dielectric partly composed of graphene, but otherwise construction is similar to other Zavfino cables, so I'm moderately excited. You'll be able to try one out.

Hugo, is this you?

 

[Shuggie]

Hugo, is this you?

Yes

 

[mtemur]

The tonearm I bought is wired with Van Den Hull 33AWG x4 + 5 pin DIN male. What tonearm wire from the DIN to my Phasemation T-2000 SUTs does this august group suggest? (MC = Phasemation PP-2000, Phono stage Ypsilon).

I highly recommend using Kondo silver wire instead of VDH 33AWG inside the tonearm and Kondo Ls-41 tonearm cable (DIN to RCA) between tonearm and SUT.

 

[MrC.]

the Destiny is an excellent cart. I love the way it does vocals and also its deep textured bass.... Its not the last word if your seeking an extended top end or looking for copious amounts of air and spatial clues..... other carts do this better.

the arm - im still coming to terms with. I prefer it to my TriPlanar U12. Compared to the Reed 3P i also have its quite similar... if anything maybe a bit more neutral..... it really just gets out of the way and lets the other components' voicing come through. It is exceptionally well made and quite a pleasure to use.

How well does that arm track? I use a linear tracker and find that the drag of the stylus will pull forward a bit so if you try setting up so the stylus just lands at the edge of the inside of the tracking line, the pull of the record forward may pull it into a better alignment. With a linear tracker, even a small error seems somehow more pronounced than a pivoted arm, which one would think is counterintuitive but is real imho.

 

[pweg]

How well does that arm track? I use a linear tracker and find that the drag of the stylus will pull forward a bit so if you try setting up so the stylus just lands at the edge of the inside of the tracking line, the pull of the record forward may pull it into a better alignment. With a linear tracker, even a small error seems somehow more pronounced than a pivoted arm, which one would think is counterintuitive but is real imho.

no issue at all

 

[Rensselaer]

I will eagerly await your report on the Reed 5A. (I am still planning to order a Reed 5T specifically for the Grado Epoch3.)

Just read your review of Grado in Mono & Stereo, wish I had read it before I bought the Phasemation PP-2000 MC and Phasemation T-2000 SUTs.

The Epoch3 output is 1.0mV at 5 cm/s : The Phasemation PP-2000 output is 0.3mV, the gain of the T-2000 26db

In your review you said you used an Audio Research Reference Phono 2SE phono stage, which has a continuously variable gain phono stage which you said was "essential" to "enable the Epoch3 to sing". Per Grado's recommendation you set the phono stage impedance to 47,000 ohms and selected 74db of gain. The Ypsilon VPS-100 MM phono stage, sans SUTs, although the input impedance is also 47,000 ohms it only puts out 39db of gain. Before I wonder any more, put me out of my misery. My soon-arriving Ypsilon could not manage an Epoch3 on its own, certainly the output is not enough to "enable the Epoch3 to sing" could it? And adding some sort of SUT would then amplify surface and other distractions "sharpness" and defeat the advantage, right?

 

[Musicman]

I have the Thales Easy on a VPI Scout but the tonearm is mounted separately in a VPI motor pod and I've implemented AS from a VPI kit. Yes it sounds better in that the soundstage is solidified with just a wee bit of AS applied but the true virtues are tracing across the record. On some records it is impossible to tell the first groove to the last but some pressings have the inner groove distortions probably because the groove is packed really tight to cram as much music onto a side as permissible.

 

[Rensselaer]

Hi Ron - i have the 5A with a Miyajima Destiny and Crystal Absolute Dream tonearm cable - i think you would like it as it ticks all my boxes and sounds great. Cant answer your other questions.View attachment 72188

Hey pweg, I have the 5A tonearm in its case awaiting completion of my Classic Turntable (hifi) Garrard 301 rebuild (expected mid-July). The Garrard 301 turntable is rebuilt with solid CNC machined brass chassis (eliminates the wobble in the original), larger brass bearing with tighter clearance, and 12kg oversized machined brass platter, mounted on a Panzerholz/Permali plinth. I will be mounting the Reed 5A tonearm mount directly to the Permali Plinth, the Plinth material is very dense and dead to vibrations by itself, but then it will also be setting on four Townshend Seismic pods. Do you anticipate any difficulties in the correct functioning of the Reed with this set up? Any suggestions regarding assembly and mounting of the tonearm /cartridge that I should know? Thanks, Mark

 

[pweg]

Hey pweg, I have the 5A tonearm in its case awaiting completion of my Classic Turntable (hifi) Garrard 301 rebuild (expected mid-July). The Garrard 301 turntable is rebuilt with solid CNC machined brass chassis (eliminates the wobble in the original), larger brass bearing with tighter clearance, and 12kg oversized machined brass platter, mounted on a Panzerholz/Permali plinth. I will be mounting the Reed 5A tonearm mount directly to the Permali Plinth, the Plinth material is very dense and dead to vibrations by itself, but then it will also be setting on four Townshend Seismic pods. Do you anticipate any difficulties in the correct functioning of the Reed with this set up? Any suggestions regarding assembly and mounting of the tonearm /cartridge that I should know? Thanks, Mark

No. It’s pretty straight forward.

 

[Rensselaer]

Upgraded Garrard with Reed 5A pivoted tangential tracker tonearm arrived and were set up this past Saturday with the help of Hugo Cass of Ammonite Audio. Front end: Cartridge is the Phasemation PP-2000 MC into Phasemation T-2000 stereo SUTs, those into Ypsilon VPS-100 phono stage.

The MC cartridge once mounted is fairly close to the edge of the platter to start off with. We found that the Shindo platter that we tried first is a bit too "oversized" and makes set up difficult and a bit dangerous with this particular tonearm. The Classic Turntable Company's own CNC machined brass platter, though also "oversized", was slightly smaller in diameter and was a much better fit. Once set up, you turn on the turntable, remove the stylus cover, unscrew a safety screw in the base of the opening in the tonearm rest which will free up the tonearm. The tonearm lift is up and you simply apply slight pressure to the side and the tonearm moves smoothly over into position above record lead-in. Lower the tonearm lift switch and take your seat. As the stylus drops into position there may be a slight skip over grooves in the lead in or not, but soon the music starts.

To explain how the linkage of this tonearm functions to track tangentially I will use consumption of soup as a model. Sitting straight-backed in your chair hold a soup spoon to you lips with your forearm parallel to the table, elbow as far laterally as one can and still keep the spoon to your lips. Now, keeping the forearm level, the wrist locked, using the shoulder and elbow only, move the edge of the spoon from your lips straight out to the front 6 inches or so. The spoon is still parallel to the table top, the distal (business end) has moved tangentially forward, the stylus under the spoon bowel can move up and down but the vertical tracking error is minimal as the tonearm is longer than those on tangential tonearms that are not pivoted. Did that make sense?

The sound, well, before setting up the new table and tonearm we listened to a track "Dusty Springfield, The Look of Love" on a Techniques Turntable with PSU, Groove Master 9" S-shaped tonearm, but same front end otherwise. Then again after changing over. The sound stage was wider and deeper, the sources of sound in the soundstage more locked into place, closer too and greater "presence" (my big thing).

We played other records. Everything sounds better. If an upright piano is playing I can tell if it is turned so that the high keys are towards me, or away from me. We could discern the distinct sound of someone rubbing a tine over the parallel groves of a Guiro in the music (that hollow gourd thing with parallel groves that a percussionist rubs a stick over) which you all may hear easily on your systems, but it was a first for me.

But it isn't about certain hi-fi characteristics that are now more noticeable. I do not use high end wire (which some think balances a system by highlighting a part of the spectrum that was deficient). What I am getting now is what I believe others on this site have referred to as "natural sound". Whatever it is, it suits me to the bone.