Unipivot vs Linear Tracking

Dear Sirspeedy: +++++ " With all due respect...the arm I had been exposed to(for ten years)was "absolutely" superior to anything else I have heard(including my own choice).,,.. " +++++

there could and can be several reasons why is that, one of them is that your music sound reproduction priorities are different from other people ( including me ) other could be that till today you never heard/hear the perfect pivot tonearm/cartridge combination.
Anyway what many of us have is a subjective ( estrictly personal like yours ) opinion and other people have a subjective/objective opinion ( I'm between these ones ).

Anyway IMHO I have to say again that the quality tonearm performance is a summary of many subjects where the tracking error is only one of them, sure it is important but in my whole tonearm experiences ( like I say ) it is only one more subject to take in count: the sum of the parts is the answer.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear friends all of you: IMHO this tonearm subject is a very controversial one ( for say the least ) and very complex. Here in México we say " everyone talks like goes on the fair ".

Some way or the other I think that everyone can/could be right, IMHO there is non absolute answer to the subject only relative answers.

From pure theory ( and only on tracking error subject ) there is no doubt that a LTT is the best way to go like from theory a 12" pivot tonearm is better than the 9" one, but tracking error/distortion subject is only one of several other same importance level subjects than the tracking distortion.

Why a tonearm ( it does not matters pivot or LT ) performs better than other is the summary of several different parameters ( other that good cartridge match and set up ) that help to top quality performance or that contribute to a lower one: bearing design, bearing type, bearing tolerances, bearing material, bearing friction value, geometry design/choose, tonearm length, build material ( whole ), internal wiring, effective mass, damping type, design execution, etc, etc, etc, all these " parameters " and many others help to define the tonearm performance.

I have experience on tonearms over the years not only with pivot ones but LT too ( including the ones from Rockport/Walker ). It is true that the LT are something special ( specially on soundstage that it is not my top music priority, important but not critical. ) but the pivot ones too specially on both frequency extremes where IMHO no LT surpass them.
IMHO too there is no perfect tonearm design, pivot or LT, the best one is the one that match your trade-offs/music priorities.

In the last two years ( maybe more ) Guillermo and I were in deep whole tonearm research looking/building for a Universal tonearm ( the perfect one ) where we already made several live tests ( with our tonearm prototype designs ) to be near that almost impossible target: Universal/perfect tonearm.

We try 12",11",10",9",etc, etc and about tracking distortion I agree totally with Cjfrbw: you can't hear the differences at least differences that you could say: hey that is because lower tracking error!, no way. As imperfect is the playback analog rig as imperfect are the analog recording process and these facts preclude that the theory is on command.
. Btw, when we talk about lower traking error between a 12" tonearm against a 9-10" one we are talking of 0.8 degrees or less, with all respect to all of you : no one can hear it. The special soundstage performance on LT is more a result of its non mechanic grounded bearing that of the LT design.

IMHO it is more important a good execution design, cartridge match and good set-up that pivot vs LT subject.

Guillermo and I choose a pivot tonearm design over LT because we think ( maybe we are wrong ) that can/could be nearer to the Universal tonearm, we are really exited on the quality performance showed on our last prototype: very promised, we will see over the time to come.

Spl, don't worry about which is harder to set up properly there are many other more important subjects ( of course that a friendly set up is always desired. ) to choose your tonearm.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Sirspeedy: I respect your point of view but IMHO it is almost ridiculous try to compare the LT arm of your two friends ( the only ones in the world ) against stock pivots and stock other LT, specially with out having it in your own system.

+++++ " at the top of the food chain a pivoting arm and linear tracking arm are both great choices. There are many more great pivoting arm choices. If you get the right linear tracking arm and it's optimized for your turntable; it is very easy to live with. " +++++

IMHO there is no winner here.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Thomasheisig: +++++ " A linear Tracker is in my opinion very sensitive to the quality of the Turntable " +++++

to the inherent quality of the turntable it self or to the " TT arm board ( TT suspension and vibrations disippation. )?

regards and enjoy the music.
raul.

Dear Thomasheisig: Thank you and one more question: that very close relantionship between a quality TT and LTT can/could show with any cartridge ( I mean the ones you own. )?

regards and enjoy the music.
raul.

Dear Sirspeedy: Clear like water!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
raul.

Dear Sirspeedy: Sounds great! ( 1 ).

regards and enjoy the music.
raul.