the 47 lab RS-A1 arm, and it's clone ?

The arm is apparently unique -- no clone -- and the $500 days seem long past.
Be sure you're up to it; This thing is one of the finest-sounding arms I've ever
tried -- had it in my system for over a month -- but also the most maddening.
Arm lift sucks and no cueing lever, very difficult to get into the lead-in grooves
(and out again at the end of a record) without mishap. You need a steady hand
and a cartridge that will take abuse but, as I said, it sounds absolutely great.
Dave

PS The cartridge cannot be a threaded one, BTW, or one that installs from
underneath. And the arm wiring is VERY fragile.

Oregon, the friend who owns the RS-A-1 that I tried for a month came over this afternoon and we discussed this thread. As far as, "Can you describe the sound" is concerned, we're both puzzled and he asked, "Can you describe the taste of chocolate?" which I thought was apt.

The RS-A1 is very open, musical, and forgiving. It will change all your views of tonearms and how they work. Doesn't seem to matter all that much where it's mounted relative to the turntable/spindle as long as you get it in the ballpark. It just sits on the plinth (doesn't have to be attached but has a tendency to fall over if it isn't). VTA and VTF are similarly in the "get it close but don't sweat it" vein. No antiskating is provided or needed. The arm is straight, the "headshell" swivels but is not offset and the cart doesn't precisely follow the groove, so any comparison to straight-line trackers is off the mark. Tracks like a champ, though. It is simply a goofy arm that works very, very well if you can stand to live with it. I couldn't.

Yeah, I saw that one at $1200/obo and thought ... "Wouldn't it be fun to play with?" Such awesome sound. Such a pain to use.

So I took a cold shower :-)