Reed 5T Installation Experience

[Ron Resnick]

My experience of listening to music transcribed by the Grado Epoch3 cartridge on the Reed 5T tonearm in the amazing listening room of audioquattr in the Netherlands continues to haunt me (in a good way). I believe that when an audiophile has playback experiences of this nature one should pay attention to them and try to replicate that level of emotional engagement in one's own audio system.

Over the course of a wonderful and wide-ranging three hour discussion with Mark Doehmann a week ago I was reminded of how transcendent I felt was that cartridge/tonearm combination, especially on vocals. Mark loves the Schröder tonearms, and he loves the Reed tonearms as well.

But I am having trouble locating in the United States a dealer who actually has any experience, let alone repeated experience, installing the Reed 5T. Despite its universal reputation for utterly reliable, set-and-forget operation (my kind of component), to uninitiated eyes it looks like an absurdly complex contraption. If I order a Reed 5T I want it installed by somebody who has done it before.

I remember Michael Fremer's funny but worrisome comment in his review of the 5T regarding its installation:

I have quite a lot of experience setting up tonearms, but setting this one up was an exercise in frustration, for reasons partly but not entirely my fault. Even under the best of circumstances, even the most experienced analog fans are likely to find the 5T's setup challenging. Designer Vidmantas Triukas, who is obviously a genius, apparently thinks all his buyers are geniuses as well.

Do you have a Reed 5T?

Who installed your Reed 5T on your turntable?

 

[Audire]

My experience of listening to music transcribed by the Grado Epoch3 cartridge on the Reed 5T tonearm in the amazing listening room of audioquattr in the Netherlands continues to haunt me (in a good way). I believe that when an audiophile has playback experiences of this nature one should pay attention to them and try to replicate that level of emotional engagement in one's own audio system.

Over the course of a wonderful and wide-ranging three hour discussion with Mark Doehmann a week ago I was reminded of how transcendent I felt was that cartridge/tonearm combination, especially on vocals. Mark loves the Schröder tonearms, and he loves the Reed tonearms as well.

But I am having trouble locating in the United States a dealer who actually has any experience, let alone repeated experience, installing the Reed 5T. Despite its universal reputation for utterly reliable, set-and-forget operation (my kind of component), to uninitiated eyes it looks like an absurdly complex contraption. If I order a Reed 5T I want it installed by somebody who has done it before.

I remember Michael Fremer's funny but worrisome comment in his review of the 5T regarding its installation:

I have quite a lot of experience setting up tonearms, but setting this one up was an exercise in frustration, for reasons partly but not entirely my fault. Even under the best of circumstances, even the most experienced analog fans are likely to find the 5T's setup challenging. Designer Vidmantas Triukas, who is obviously a genius, apparently thinks all his buyers are geniuses as well.

Do you have a Reed 5T?

Who installed your Reed 5T on your turntable?

Ron, there’s a guy named Jose that has probably set them up before. He will be at my home in the 15th. I’ll ask him and if he has I’ll send you his contact info.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron, there’s a guy named Jose that has probably set them up before. He will be at my home in the 15th. I’ll ask him and if he has I’ll send you his contact info.

Yes, please ask him! Thank you.

 

[Al Stewart]

The above illustrates Ron's point.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Yes, I've previously studied that video. Thank you!

 

[Dohmann]

My experience of listening to music transcribed by the Grado Epoch3 cartridge on the Reed 5T tonearm in the amazing listening room of audioquattr in the Netherlands continues to haunt me (in a good way). I believe that when an audiophile has playback experiences of this nature one should pay attention to them and try to replicate that level of emotional engagement in one's own audio system.

Over the course of a wonderful and wide-ranging three hour discussion with Mark Doehmann a week ago I was reminded of how transcendent I felt was that cartridge/tonearm combination, especially on vocals. Mark loves the Schröder tonearms, and he loves the Reed tonearms as well.

But I am having trouble locating in the United States a dealer who actually has any experience, let alone repeated experience, installing the Reed 5T. Despite its universal reputation for utterly reliable, set-and-forget operation (my kind of component), to uninitiated eyes it looks like an absurdly complex contraption. If I order a Reed 5T I want it installed by somebody who has done it before.

I remember Michael Fremer's funny but worrisome comment in his review of the 5T regarding its installation:

I have quite a lot of experience setting up tonearms, but setting this one up was an exercise in frustration, for reasons partly but not entirely my fault. Even under the best of circumstances, even the most experienced analog fans are likely to find the 5T's setup challenging. Designer Vidmantas Triukas, who is obviously a genius, apparently thinks all his buyers are geniuses as well.

Do you have a Reed 5T?

Who installed your Reed 5T on your turntable?

View attachment 85932

Hi Ron,

Michael was right in saying it needs a more experienced setup person.

I've done a few installs now and I found that wedging the platter so it doesn't move during setup is a good first step. The issue is the "live" arm will move the pivot forward depending on the arc position (line from outer groove to inner groove). No issue when a record is spinning as the touchdown point pulls the stylus forward.

When setting up the arm on a stationary protractor the "live" arm needs to be carefully positioned over the arc to let it push the pivot forward to match the tangent point WHILST THE ARM IS ON THE ARM LIFTER.

Then the key is to use the arm lifter to carefully cue the arm lowering the arm to ALMOST touch the template then raising it and making the adjustments to overhang and offset (for zenith of stylus of the cart) and checking the VTF. After adjust then lowering the arm again to ALMOST touch the template and recheck.

Once you are super certain its correct then do the final lowering onto template as the arm should not move forward at that position.

Mark

 

[spiritofmusic]

Wow, analog is tough enough with stylus damage so easy to achieve even in straightforward situations, to then contemplate upping the accident factor many times over.

 

[sbnx]

Why not give Stirling Trayle a call. I am sure he has setup 1000's of turntable systems.

Contact | audiosystemsoptimizd

www.audiosystemsoptimized.com

 

[audioquest4life]

Wow, analog is tough enough with stylus damage so easy to achieve even in straightforward situations, to then contemplate upping the accident factor many times over.

I am not sure that I would go this route as I would like a more simplistic means for the DIY'er to be able to make adjustments or swap arms without spending an inordinate amount of time sweating and working through a complicated surgery to install an arm. Granted, I am sure that the Reed 5T arm is great and once setup, you do not have to worry about it and all you have to do over a period of years is to check and verify settings. However, never say never. In this hobby, we are prone to change equipment or swap stuff often and you would be back to paying someone to dismantle or remount this arm later on, if you cannot perform the surgery yourself. You will invariably learn how to install this arm, but I would always ask myself, "do the risks of damaging a cartridge outweigh the benefit of using this type of arm". A famous Shark Tank quote "For that reason, I am out".

 

[banpuku]

Hi everyone, hope all is well. I am a dealer for both Reed and Kuzma tonearms in central PA. I currently have the Reed 5A in stock and can say that it is rather routine to setup. The 5A, not 5T, but they might be similar in setup. I have not owned the 5T.

For the 5A, the VTA/SRA adjustment is very easy to adjust with a simple turn of an hex wrench. Adjusting a VTA screw causes the tonearm to move vertically upon a fixed post (very solid). Once the VTA screw is adjusted (up or down), then a set screw is tightened. Same goes for the azimuth, just loosen a set-screw, twist the tonearm wand and tighten the set-screw. The best part of the arm adjustments is the VTF. The precision screw threads for the counterweight are best in class smooth and have a velvet touch. The 5A has a bubble level to set the tonearm perfectly level.

Not sure if this helps, but happy to answer any questions.

 

[bonzo75]

@Cala from Anamighty has experience installing many Schroeder LT, CS Port LT, and Reed 5T, among others. He will be at Munich too.

 

[bonzo75]

Schroeder LT and the baby Schroeder TT at Anamighty client

Reed 5T and CS port LT at Anamighty.