I've heard a couple, both fitted with Musicmaker III carts, but in unfamiliar systems, so it's hard to say what effect the arm was having in relation to the other components.
I thought the imagaging and detail resolution were very good, there was a good sense of "air" and my only reservation was I thought that bass guitar wasn't quite as incisive and in time compared to say a modded Rega.
It looked really cool and I understand that it's not too difficult to set up. Reviewers in Europe are getting very excited about the Cartridge Man's Conductor arm (admittedly twice the price of the Opus). Two reviewers whose opinions I respect (Ed Barker and Geoff Husband) are rating it as their current favourite.
IMO the big selling point of the Opus 3 arm is that the guy who developed it is passionate about recording live music with all the natural ambience of the venue and he was able to compare vinyl replay with the Opus 3 to the master tapes when developing the arm.
I'm definitely going to try a parallel tracker at some stage - but I think my first step might be the diy Laadegard arm.
I thought the imagaging and detail resolution were very good, there was a good sense of "air" and my only reservation was I thought that bass guitar wasn't quite as incisive and in time compared to say a modded Rega.
It looked really cool and I understand that it's not too difficult to set up. Reviewers in Europe are getting very excited about the Cartridge Man's Conductor arm (admittedly twice the price of the Opus). Two reviewers whose opinions I respect (Ed Barker and Geoff Husband) are rating it as their current favourite.
IMO the big selling point of the Opus 3 arm is that the guy who developed it is passionate about recording live music with all the natural ambience of the venue and he was able to compare vinyl replay with the Opus 3 to the master tapes when developing the arm.
I'm definitely going to try a parallel tracker at some stage - but I think my first step might be the diy Laadegard arm.