Experience w/ Trans-Fi Auio Terminator Tone Arm?

I am the alleged lone gunman of record above. The Terminator is an excellent arm that easily surpassed a Graham 1.5tc & SME IV on my modded VPI TNT. It takes a bit of tweeking if this is your first experience with a linear arm, as well as email dialog with the manufacturer to dimension a pedestal base for your particular TT. Construction of the air supply requires basic skills with a hand drill. It is well worth the effort and IMO represents one of the best values in analog.

I'll add my more recent impressions of Terminator. The Tpro version with the Tomahawk flat wand and uninterrupted shielded 5N silver wire harness is quite a break-through in performance. The arm also benefits from a solid brass pedestal. The most challenging aspect of setting up Terminator is the need for careful dressing of the new shielded wire harness. These wires are a bit thicker than the filament-sized unshielded wiring more commonly used with tangential arms. The shielded wires are worthwhile in terms of eliminating hum problems, but to prevent torque effects on the stylus(particularly when the arm is shortened in front or when using a four-conductor loom for balanced operation) the wires need to be carefully separated from each other, and the gantry that supports them must be positioned toward the middle of the LP. In addition, one should recheck zenith after determining optimal VTA. Finally, if the arm is made short it is well worth experimenting with headshell weights for cartridges of low to medium compliance.

All of this may sound complicated but is really no big deal. Once these aspects of setting up a short linear arm are understood, things fall easily into place.

Acman3, I wouldn't bother with the copper wire and Molex connector. IME the straight-shot 9N screened silver wire sounds much better and is less susceptible to RFI/EMI.

Franz56, T3/Pro is a killer and no longer requires the return privilege as a marketing tool.

Wntrmute2, It's great arm, but the on-the-fly VTA feature should be approached with caution. After each change in VTA the clamping screw should be retightened to ensure solid coupling between the air manifold and the core block. Recheck zenith after arriving at optimal VTA. Remember that with a short wand, any change in VTA will push/pull the stylus off tangency/zenith to a greater degree than with a conventional long wand. Notwithstanding these housekeeping issues, the variables of a linear tonearm are simple and deterministic compared to a pivot arm.

Wntrmute2, your system profile shows a VPI TNT with SME V. Just curious for your opinion of that rig vs. T-3 on HW-19. T-Pro replaced a SME IV on my TNT.