Unipivot vs Linear Tracking

Regarding Mike Lavigne from 7-27-08

i have recently purchased three additional turntables, a Technics SP-10 Mk2, an SP-10 Mk3 and a Garrard 301.

Me too, sort of. I bought the Technics SP10 MK2 about 2 years ago and the Technics MK3 this month. I don't have to wait to decide what these table do, this quote from Macrojack says it all:

Technics applied more money, expertise and R&D muscle to the development of the SP-10 series than all modern turntable manufacturers combined will acces during their lifetimes. You have to remember that this was the mighty Matsushita corporation at the peak of their high end audio venture. The SP-10 was subsidized by the sale of millions of mass market turntables. No one will ever sell turntables in those numbers again.

I've owned the Versa Dynamics with linear track arm, the Air Tangent Linear track arm, two Rabco arms, the Walker Black Diamond linear track table and arm and also the Triplanar, Graham (three of them) the SME 3009, 3012, 312S and countless others.

My conclusion agrees with these statement
(1) Mike Lavigne

at the top of the food chain a pivoting arm and linear tracking arm are both great choices. There are many more great pivoting arm choices. If you get the right linear tracking arm and it's optimized for your turntable; it is very easy to live with. But that's not cheap and there are not many choices.

I think it's impossible to separate the turntable from the arm, particularly when some of the best turntables (Kuzma Stabi, Rockport, Walker, Versa Dynamics) all come with linear arm fitted during assembly and there is typically no way to fit a pivot arm on one of these to make a comparison.

I did make multiple comparisons with a Basis Debut Gold MK4 and MK5 with a Triplanar, two Graham arms and an Air Tangent 10B. All sounded different and in the end I abandoned the Air Tangent due to lack of a solid connection with the music, especially in the bass.

I am up in the air right now with turntable tests. I can hardly wait for Mike Lavigne to get his new (old) tables up and running and report on what he hears.

loved the "Versa" It sounded very good, but it almost never got through an LP without sticking, or something like that.

Humidity in the air would condense due to the high pressure in the Gast aircraft compressor used in the Versa pump. When this humidity filled the air lines it clogged the bearing and sometimes (literally) even dripped condensation (water drops) onto the LP from the air bearing surface. Obviously this is when it would stick.

The Air Tangent did not have this problem, nor did the Walker. Lots of factors go into each of these designs and even though I can still "hear" each one in my head, there are good and bad about each.