Trans-Fi Terminator Tonearm: 2019 Update

Some people (including the late Brooks Berdan, I believe) found the moving mass of the ET could have a substantial effect upon tables with a low mass floating sub-chassis, a very soft suspension, or both. As the arm moved across the LP, the center of gravity and suspension’s balance could be disturbed.

But the ET has (again, I believe) higher moving mass than does the Terminator. The latters lightweight moving parts should pose no problem to any table (except the Townshend Rock, of course ;-), as Harold's video demonstrates.

Very cool, @ledoux1238. Looks like we have similar tastes in gear! There is a local longtime audiophile (Harry Z) I have been talking to lately, who owned LFT-8b's in the past, and has a set on order with ET right now. He has been waiting 8-9 weeks for them, so prospective buyers need to have patience. The same is true of those wanting a set of Magnepan LRS.

Unlike Maggies, which greatly benefit from a high-power current-source amp good into 4 ohm loads, the LFT-8b is fine with a medium-powered tube amp. The entire speaker presents an easy 8 ohm load, the m/t panels alone 11 ohms, great for bi-amping with a tube amp on top, a ss on bottom.

Great post, @ledoux1238! I completely agree about the nature of the Eminent Technology and Trans-Fi business models (along with those of EAR-Yoshino, Music Reference, Pass, Herron, K & K Audio, Magnepan, Townshend, Kuzma, and a few others), and the nature of their designers/company owners.

Funny you should make a connection between the LFT-8 (particularly it’s woofer) and an open baffle loudspeaker. I don’t use the LFT’s woofer; in it’s place I have a pair of.....Rythmik/GR Research OB/Dipole Subwoofers ;-). There are a couple of very good reason for using a dipole sub with a planar loudspeaker, one of which Duke of 4-sub "swarm" fame has acknowledged. The rate of SPL "fall-off" as you move further away from a dipole is different than it is from a monopole. The balance established between a dipole speaker and a "normal" sub will be so at only one listening distance. Change that distance, and the balance changes.

The OB/Dipole sub has other, inherent advantages over normal subs, which is why Siegfried Linkwitz included them in all his designs. They sound ’leaner" than sealed and ported subs, less fat and "plump". Some hear that as lacking in bass weight, while others find it closer to the sound of bass in real life. I am intimately familiar with the sound of acoustic drums, guitar, and piano, upright and electric bass, and I count myself as among the latter. Each to his own!

I also am a proponent of having the wiring in a tonearm being an uninterrupted run from cartridge tags to RCA (or XLR) plugs, which, as you mentioned, Vic offered on the Terminator. I got his last length of the silver wire. Sorry, mates!

@ledoux1238 and @slaw, two more excellent reviews (both raves) of the ET LFT-8b are those in The Absolute Sound (by Robert E. Greene) and Hi-Fi World (Noel Keywood). VPI’s Harry Weisfeld has sung the speaker’s praises as well, saying it has the best midrange of any he has ever heard, regardless of price. I have been mentioning the loudspeaker here for a few years (I have a pair), that mention apparently falling on deaf ears. More than that, Harry’s statement has elicited outraged indignation from some. Very few seem to be interested in the speaker, though it is a ridiculous bargain. Not "trendy" enough for fickle audiophiles? ;-)

Though the midrange drivers (an identical pair) are magnetic-planars similar in some respects to and inspired by Magnepan’s, they are unique (and patented) in a number of others. For one (an important one to me), there is no x/o in the passband of the LFT drivers---180Hz to 10kHz, with no x/o! A ribbon tweeter above that, an 8" sealed woofer below, with 1st order-filters. ET’s Bruce Thigpen is another outside-the-box thinker. Check out his TRW-17 Rotary Woofer---flat to 1Hz! A true "sub" woofer, designed for the bottom octave (20-40 Hz). And below!!