Primary Control FCL 12"----field coil loaded unipivot tone arm.

[Mike Lavigne]

as i sit here listening this morning to this new tone arm, i realize it deserves it's own thread.

i installed the FCL last night but precise set-up was not very far along, i had to work out a few questions with Bernd Hemmen, the designer builder. there is a learning curve which i am traversing. not really all the way done with that yet, but the listening is taking things to new territory already, so i thought i would dig in here.

i'm on my 5th reference pressing so far today, and my first impressions are that provisionally it might be the best tone arm i have heard. textures and explosiveness are at new levels. the combination of my Wave Kinetics NVS tt, Esturo Gold cartridge, LFD cables and the FCL is magical. the linearity and energy of the NVS is the perfect launching pad here.

it took me a long time to make this happen, and i'm very glad i went to the trouble. my intent was to raise up the NVS to be able to equal the Saskia and CS Port in musical truth and listening satisfaction. check!!!! ......at least!!!

Field Coil Loaded Tonearm

The FCL Tonearm is a unique, state of the art field coil loaded and stabilized unipivot tonearm

www.primarycontrol.nl

 

[PeterA]

Very cool Mike. The photographs are nice. For those like me who are clueless about this technology, could you please explain what a field coil loaded tonearm is and what its advantages might be?

 

[TooCool4]

Nice

 

[bazelio]

Very interesting! I have a feeling the FCL would be a great match for the Saskia as well.

@PeterA the high level summary of the intent of the design would be to provide the benefits of unipivot without the drawbacks.

 

[Solypsa]

Having heard the Gravity ( permanent magnet, lower version ) I can guess it's *wow* territory.

Tosca + FCL, your NVS is one fortunate turntable

 

[spiritofmusic]

Any scope for experimenting with after market FC psu's?

 

[ddk]

Any scope for experimenting with after market FC psu's?

You killed me with this one Marc, love it!
david

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Any scope for experimenting with after market FC psu's?

hefting Bernd's PSU, and observing the obvious build quality, i'd guess it's already a serious effort. but if Bill or Leif get ahold of this arm, i suppose tweaking would be expected. or...they modify their own tonearm with a DIY field coil.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Very cool Mike. The photographs are nice. For those like me who are clueless about this technology, could you please explain what a field coil loaded tonearm is and what its advantages might be?

i'm not one to personally explain field coil tech and it's relevance to a uni-pivot tone arm....i do now understand it a little. the best explanation with some depth about how this works is from this write-up on the FCL in Mono & Stereo;

Bernd Hemmen writes: "We always were fascinated by the simplicity and purity of the unipivot bearing design. The classic unipivot tonearm can sound quite good but has some serious drawbacks. First of all, we never could get used to the handling of the wobbling arm wand. This makes everyday use very unpleasant. A classic unipivot tonearm has also an unfavorable ratio of tonearm balance and bearing point. The center of gravity of the tonearm is much deeper than the bearing point and that leads to a high moment of inertia. Another, often overlooked point is the fact, that all the energy from the tonearm is derived at this tiny point into the tonearm base. The energy that a cartridge transfers into the arm wand when playing an LP is enormous and the energy transfer at the bearing point is very critical. Besides that, the unipivot tonearm has the tendency for torsional movement when playing warped records.

Our first design, which achieved the solution of these weaknesses, is the Reference Tonearm, a completely customized design. Strictly speaking, however, it is not a true unipivot tonearm, since there is a second bearing point, against which the arm is leaning.

Our newly developed FCL Tonearm is a true unipivot design and overcomes all the problems of the classic unipivot tonearm. The loading of the bearing by the use of a specially designed magnet and a field coil, powered by a constant current source, eliminates bearing chatter and gives the tonearm a high torsional stability. The center of gravity and the bearing point are in the same plane, thus the tonearm is in neutral balance. The bearing point is 18mm below the headshell and is therefore at the height of the record.

Last but not least, the tone arm handling is comparable to ball bearing tonearms. Bearing chatter, caused by energy transfer in the uni-pivot bearing, is eliminated.

In combination with the new developed ultra low resonance arm-wand, it leads to a low frequency reproduction and sonically performance unmatched by any other uni-pivot tonearm design.

 

[spiritofmusic]

You killed me with this one Marc, love it!
david

Dave, this hobby is all about planning the next move. Of course, me killing you could be deemed the final move.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Very interesting! I have a feeling the FCL would be a great match for the Saskia as well.

likely it will get a turn there. Win is going to modify one of my arm boards for the FCL soon.

but the Saskia and 2nd Tosca are intended for the DaVa Ref about to land.

@PeterA the high level summary of the intent of the design would be to provide the benefits of unipivot without the drawbacks.

i think that's right, plus even beyond that.

 

[ddk]

Dave, this hobby is all about planning the next move. Of course, me killing you could be deemed the final move.

You’re on a roll today Marc!

 

[spiritofmusic]

You’re on a roll today Marc!

Taxes, hifi, death. All that life is about.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

a weekend of listening to the FCL arm has left me even more impressed. there is a rightness to the FCL; a grainless, liquid, utter lack of any sense of the reproduced........signature. in the realm of the effect of the air bearing in my CS Port arm and turntable. yet it's more explosive and macrodynamic. never heard an arm do this stuff quite like it.

strings of any kind, vocals, horns, piano.....all have a life like inner harmonic fire and sparkle not heard before. an added degree of life and subtlety. it's neutral yet tonally dense and has real weight.

 

[flyer]

a weekend of listening to the FCL arm has left me even more impressed. there is a rightness to the FCL; a grainless, liquid, utter lack of any sense of the reproduced........signature. in the realm of the effect of the air bearing in my CS Port arm and turntable. yet it's more explosive and macrodynamic. never heard an arm do this stuff quite like it.

strings of any kind, vocals, horns, piano.....all have a life like inner harmonic fire and sparkle not heard before. an added degree of life and subtlety. it's neutral yet tonally dense and has real weight.

Very happy with your conclusions so far Mike.

And not to forget that Bernd is a very agreeable and professional guy!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Very happy with your conclusions so far Mike.

And not to forget that Bernd is a very agreeable and professional guy!

yes; Bernd has been a pleasure to deal with and first class in every way. great at helping me through the process from 8k miles away.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

tonight i'm bringing out some of my big classical guns to really test the mettle of the FCL. and i am blown away.

this thing is so fast, crazy unimaginably fast. and it does not break a sweat even a little. for the last 90 minutes i've sampled some formidable pressings i had solid aural memories of, and those memories have been laid to waste. a caution......since i cannot switch inputs i've not tried my other arms and cartridges without unplugging phono cables, so no A/B's for now. therefore; i reserve the right to walk this back later when i get around to trying my other choices.

why would the FCL be so fast? i'm not good at 'why'. in my mind i can connect the dots and reason that a field coil assisted uni-pivot bearing has an advantage of a powered magnetic field with zero mass assisting the bearing performance. how could any mechanical bearing or air bearing be as 'fast' to allow the stylus to maneuver in the groove as a powered magnetic field? so that's my very non techie mind's rationalization/theory of what my ears are telling me. but it might not work that way.

what do i mean by fast? i'm hearing considerably more information, while i'm also hearing a more human and real presentation. with greater fine texture, tonal harmonic complexity and timbre, all the while more grainless and with more ease and flow. like it's technically so superior that it's just cruising. not even approaching it's headroom of performance.

hope that makes sense. i don't really know what is responsible for the performance, or even if 'fast' is the right descriptor to use.

 

[kodomo]

tonight i'm bringing out some of my big classical guns to really test the mettle of the FCL. and i am blown away.

this thing is so fast, crazy unimaginably fast. and it does not break a sweat even a little. for the last 90 minutes i've sampled some formidable pressings i had solid aural memories of, and those memories have been laid to waste. a caution......since i cannot switch inputs i've not tried my other arms and cartridges without unplugging phono cables, so no A/B's for now. therefore; i reserve the right to walk this back later when i get around to trying my other choices.

why would the FCL be so fast? i'm not good at 'why'. in my mind i can connect the dots and reason that a field coil assisted uni-pivot bearing has an advantage of a powered magnetic field with zero mass assisting the bearing performance. how could any mechanical bearing or air bearing be as 'fast' to allow the stylus to maneuver in the groove as a powered magnetic field? so that's my very non techie mind's rationalization/theory of what my ears are telling me. but it might not work that way.

what do i mean by fast? i'm hearing considerably more information, while i'm also hearing a more human and real presentation. with greater fine texture, tonal harmonic complexity and timbre, all the while more grainless and with more ease and flow. like it's technically so superior that it's just cruising. not even approaching it's headroom of performance.

hope that makes sense. i don't really know what is responsible for the performance, or even if 'fast' is the right descriptor to use.
View attachment 95093View attachment 95095
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I use these same three records and still enjoy musically while having an idea on the gear I am trying

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Hi Mike. Congrats. If I understand the blurb correctly about how it works, I suspect it won’t have that wobbly feel when cueing it like with other unipivots - is that indeed the case?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike. Congrats. If I understand the blurb correctly about how it works, I suspect it won’t have that wobbly feel when cueing it like with other unipivots - is that indeed the case?

yes...but not that simple.

i've owned a few unipivots; many years ago (late 90's, into 2001) i owned a couple of Graham arms; the 1.5 and the 1.5tc. they were a bit wobbly. never owned a Phantom or Graham after that.

i've owned 2 Durand Telos unipivots, and a Durand Kairos uni-pivot; both designs which use a side azimuth bridge to steady it. there was an art to setting up these particular arms in terms of degrees of tightness of the bridge and the whole balance. the Sapphire Telos was an amazing arm, still is. one of the very best arms i've owned. maybe the ultimate mechanical uni-pivot. with the bridge the Durand's were not at all wobbly. but not plug and play easy to optimize.

on the FCL, with the field coil turned on, you can push from the side and it will deflect, and smoothly spring back. but zero wobble. the feel when putting side pressure on is more a slight resistance but controlled. whatever is actually happening and however it works, the result is ultimate (in my experience) standard setting information and musicality.