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  How important is the tonearm?
I am presently shopping for a new tonearm for my new turntable. I looked at basic arm like the Jelco (500$) but also at arms like Reed, Graham, Tri-Planar all costing over 4000$.

The turntable is a TTWeights Gem Ultra and the cartridge I have on hand is a brand new Benz Ruby 3.

Here is a couple of questions for the analogue experts.

1. Is the quality of the tonearm important?

2. Is it easy to hear the difference between expensive tonearm (Ex: Graham Phantom) vs a cheaper Jelco (Approx. 500$)?

3. What makes a good arm?

Any comments from analogues expert?
Acadie  (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

01-26-11
  Responses (1-50 of 50)
Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

01-26-11   I can't tell you the difference between the two arms mention ...   Schipo

01-26-11   It is my firm belief that the arm matters more than the cart ...   Stanwal

01-26-11   I am with stanwal! but i disagree with the other poster's ...   Amandarae

01-26-11   The arm should be somewhere near the table in value. with a ...   Elizabeth

01-26-11   Amandarae" what i should have said is that most designe ...   Schipo

01-26-11   Actually, the mass of the arm has very little if any effect ...   Stanwal

01-26-11   Scipo saidi do not agree with that statement. what does ton ...   Br3098

01-27-11   The job of the tonearm is to hold the cartridge in the groov ...   Dan_ed

01-27-11   Well i'm going to be the odd one out here. to me it's the ca ...   Halcro

01-27-11   Very. sme, in my opinion makes the best arms, but pricey. h ...   Buconero117

01-27-11   A question worth to think about, there are differences in de ...   Syntax

01-27-11   When i upgraded tonearm from rega rb250 to kuzma stogi refer ...   Amater

01-27-11   I don't disagree at all that it is the cartridge that is the ...   Dan_ed

01-27-11   With respect and deference to all the learned responses abov ...   Soulbrass

01-27-11   Deare acadie: for many years i " supported " that ...   Rauliruegas

01-27-11   I forgot, that was at hardware level we can't forget that al ...   Rauliruegas

01-27-11   The question was not what is more important, rather how impo ...   Dan_ed

01-27-11   Very!!   Ebm

01-27-11   Out of my league   Vernneal

01-27-11   Matching a cartridge to the tonearm then choosing the right ...   Blackburn

01-27-11   As raul says....the jelco is inexpensive. it doesn't mean i ...   Halcro

01-28-11   I worked a number of years ago in a speciality business wher ...   Davide256

01-28-11   Oh, now you aren't saying non suspended tables are inferior. ...   Dan_ed

01-28-11   Dear davide, you wrote: "as to importance, the tonearm ...   Lewm

01-28-11   Lewm, i was in audio at the hey day of vinyl and my college ...   Davide256

01-28-11   I note also dialogue about whether to spend more money on to ...   Davide256

01-28-11   Ah, i see. we're not thinking apples and apples. have you he ...   Dan_ed

01-29-11   This is a question like what's more important...the preamp o ...   Stringreen

01-29-11   Davide, we are all free to believe what we want.......even t ...   Halcro

01-29-11   A great tonearm and good cartridge will outperform a good to ...   Audiofeil

01-29-11   Yes, it is all important. the table, the arm, the cart, the ...   Dan_ed

01-29-11   you aren't a real audiophile. sorry, but your logical follo ...   Syntax

01-29-11   The basic yardstick for successful purchase is listening fat ...   Davide256

01-30-11   and proud of it! :-)   Dan_ed

01-30-11   could you explain what characteristic would allow one tonea ...   Paperw8

01-30-11   Paperw8, heres what i've seen with a linn sondek going from ...   Davide256

01-30-11   i see. this sounds like a pretty reasonable explanation. ...   Paperw8

01-30-11   Oh dear oh dear. the old 'tap' test again..........   Halcro

01-30-11   What's wrong with taps for a dead arm? sorry, the devil made ...   Stanwal

01-31-11   Paperw8, most any tonearm is a complex system in itself. sor ...   Dan_ed

01-31-11   Play is done, gone the fun, from the makes, from the shills, ...   Dougdeacon

01-31-11   Hehehehehe!!!   Swampwalker

01-31-11   you should always question your own assumptions to make sur ...   Paperw8

01-31-11   I've been down this road before with you, paperw8. tap,tap! ...   Dan_ed

02-05-11   It's all gimmick. for below $500 each, you can find a table, ...   Mj908

02-06-11   And many will tell you the same about buying anything analog ...   Dan_ed

03-29-11: Acadie
I started this tread and I finally bought a new Tri-Planar VII. I considered some more exotic arms like Telea or Reed but decided to go with Tri-Planar, a well respected product made in the USA.

Maybe with more experience in analogue,I will give a try/experience one of those exotic arms in the future.

By the way, I like the sound with this combo: TTWeights Gem Ultra V2/Tri-Planar/Benz Ruby 3. I am sure there is better but for me, this is a bit better than the VPI Scoutmaster I had previously.

Acadie  (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)


03-30-11   Very nice! you'll have a very hard time taking many of those ...   Dan_ed

03-30-11   One nice thing about the triplanar is you can set up the eff ...   Atmasphere

03-30-11   lol, you must be speaking of your system. news flash: all ...   Rockitman


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