Doug,
Insufferable? Never! Your contributions to the corpus of collective knowledge is without peer. To really extract the most from analog, you have to be picky and anal-retentive...'close enough' will always lead the analog enthusiast astry.
I do hear what you mean about the 'slide-stepping' of the entire stage however - while I wouldn't say the Mint exaggerates this effect (which is simply part of any pivoted arm), the setup precision it affords allows this effect to be heard more clearly (along with everything else, good or bad).
I've been eyeing this linear tracker for several months now: http://www.trans-fi.com/. While I don't think it will humble my Triplanar, I do believe it will allow for some keen observations to be made: what will zero tracing error sound like - hell, I've never owned a linear tracking arm, so it'll all be new(s) to me. The price is right despite its rather rough-hewn look (it's no Air Line or Airtangent), but I think it could perform extremely well.
I'm curious if anyone has tried or heard one...maybe a separate thread on this. And yes, I did read the ETM review. Good listening,
-Richard
Insufferable? Never! Your contributions to the corpus of collective knowledge is without peer. To really extract the most from analog, you have to be picky and anal-retentive...'close enough' will always lead the analog enthusiast astry.
I do hear what you mean about the 'slide-stepping' of the entire stage however - while I wouldn't say the Mint exaggerates this effect (which is simply part of any pivoted arm), the setup precision it affords allows this effect to be heard more clearly (along with everything else, good or bad).
I've been eyeing this linear tracker for several months now: http://www.trans-fi.com/. While I don't think it will humble my Triplanar, I do believe it will allow for some keen observations to be made: what will zero tracing error sound like - hell, I've never owned a linear tracking arm, so it'll all be new(s) to me. The price is right despite its rather rough-hewn look (it's no Air Line or Airtangent), but I think it could perform extremely well.
I'm curious if anyone has tried or heard one...maybe a separate thread on this. And yes, I did read the ETM review. Good listening,
-Richard