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Name Your Top 5 Most Musical Dynamic Sounding Tonearms of All time?

Could you list your top 5 all time favourite sounding Tonearms and on which table. 
vinny55
spindoctor0470
16 posts
 

I had a Trans Fi Terminator for a few years and It is a very fine sounding arm that you would need to pay a lot more for to get something better. I think It worked best with medium/high compliance pick-ups. I have a preference low compliance, high-mass, mc pick-ups and now use a second-hand Ikeda CR IT 407 mounted on a Merrill Williams 101.2. I have a (re-built by Ikeda aka ITT Industries) Ikeda Kai mc and the combination Is very musical, dynamic, and thoroughly  enjoyable. For trying out charity-shop, second-hand vinyl, to see what's worth keeping, I have a Denon DL 103 mounted In a Musikraft body. A 17g Ikeda headshell gives too low a tonearm resonance so I have the Denon mounted In a 10g Yamamoto Ebony headshell. Actually the Denon DL 103 Is astonishingly superb In the Ikeda arm. If I hadn't got the Kai for a bargain price I'd be happy with the Denon. It tracks any record with no audible distortion. It Is dynamic and has very solid sound-staging. I'm of the opinion that the tonearm Is more Important the pick-up. The Denon, mounted In Ikeda arm would put to shame many, much dearer pick-ups, mounted in lesser tonearms.






 

larryi
3,718 posts
 
There are a lot of good and interesting arm recommendations made in this thread, but, as I said before, it is hard to attribute any particular qualities to the arm alone, particularly dynamics and a sense of being "musical."  At best, one can say certain combinations of arm, cartridge and tables have these qualities as strengths (and someone may find those same qualities weaknesses).

You could argue that an arm that can handle the demands of a Decca London cartridge is extremely dynamic because the cartridge sounds dynamic.  The same could be said of an arm that optimizes the performance of a Van den Hul Colibri. 

Keep in mind that "dynamics" is determined by the particular table chosen.  As a rough rule, tables with direct drive, idler drive and very high torque motors on belt drives tend to sound dynamic.  While I am tempted to say that a lot of tables without a spring suspension also sound dynamic, but, there are plenty of exceptions to that rough call (e.g., a good Linn setup is quite lively sounding).  Also, the kind of platter mat on any given table also affects the damping of vibration which greatly affects the sense of dynamics (the right mat is quite specific to each setup).  

  
vinny55 OP
259 posts
 
I get confused with so many tonearms
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I get confused with so many tonearms

because it's a pointless thread!
Comparing one tonearm to another on the same turntable with the same cartridge is not easy, probably the best way is to have two identical turntables and cartridges on two different tonearms connected to the same phono stage to make such test. Still not easy to tell which one is more musical, because a cartridge and arm must be matched very well. Then it's a system dependant and we're not a reviewers. What is good for me might be not good for somebody else in his system. It's like tubes vs solid state, conventional speakers vs. full range speakers ... etc. New toneatms vs vintage tonearms and so on and on  
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
Trans-Fi Audio´s Terminator T3Pro - analog audio´s most ridiculous bargain, back in the business and better than ever : )
Fits all kind of cartridges, from very low compliant 10 cu (like Entré-1) to highest compliant MM´s.

As Terry says: Another great benefit is its tweak-ability. One can tweak the mass of the arm wand, the damping, and by supporting the other end of the beam, even the stability.
Time to experience something new and totally different. Time to experience today´s technology and future of analog record play.
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