Origin Live Arm in NYC Area


Hi Folks:

I am trying to make a decision between two arms (Origin Live and TW Raven) for my new front end. I am visiting High Water Sound this week to see/hear the Raven arm. There are no Origin Live dealers in my area so would be purchasing from the west coast sight unseen/heard unless I can find one nearby. I'd love to have the opportunity to see/hear an OL arm in the premium range (Encounter/Illustrious/Conqueror) if someone has one and is willing to host. Please send me a PM if you are up for a visit and within an hour of the Delaware Water Gap. Thanks!
dodgealum

Showing 2 responses by dodgealum

Appreciate the reply. The Raven is no longer offered with a continuous run. Apparently Thomas got to many back for repair when folks mishandled the cable and damaged the interface at the base of the arm—one point for the OL. However, not sure I am on the same page about the azimuth adjustment. The Raven has a clamping head shell that can be loosened and rotated on the arm tube slightly to adjust—granted some loss of structural integrity. The OL arms from the Encounter up have a grub screw that allows you to rotate the arm tube to adjust azimuth—same axis of rotation just at the point where the arm meets the bearings rather than at the end of the arm—without seeing this arrangement in person hard to know whether the structural integrity of the arm is better preserved. Finally, I believe both arms feature dual pivot bearings but the OL has hybrid ceramic balls where the Raven has super high tolerance steel bearings. Oh and the OL does a ball and string anti skate while the Raven is magnetic. I also wonder if the OL composite arm tube may have the edge over straight aluminum on the Raven.

Anyone have the chance to use both these arms? Would love to hear your impressions.



@millercarbon I watched the SS videos and read what Peter posted on the website. My takeaway is that azimuth matters and he wishes more tonearm designers included the ability to adjust this in their designs. He also suggests that SS does more to ensure that the generator and the stylus of their designs are aligned with the body so that the end user can eyeball the correct azimuth using a mirror, since SS cartridges have "stratospheric" channel separation which does not allow for the use of electronic measurement of azimuth. (Which doesn't make sense to me). For the record, I went on the SS site and looked at their entire premium range of low, medium and high output cartridges and NONE of them spec at the "stratospheric" levels Peter claims in the video, where he mentions channel separation figures of "high 30s, low 40s and even high 40s"). Not sure what accounts for the discrepancy between his reference to these extremely high specs and what appears on the spec sheet for each cartridge on his website, which are numbers around 30-32db--figures which are routinely hit by many other manufacturers.