Looking for tonearm inspiration

@atmasphere  : "  are several grades harder than those used in the SME arms. "

several grades? : how many grades and where are stated ?

Harder?, so what:  wich its radial play, surface finish, material, tolerance ( ABEC 5,7 or 9 ), starting torque which affects the swinging of the tonearm up and down and following eccentricity of the record, noise level and vibration in bearings which adds distortion, how precisely the ball bearings are fitted into the housing and shaft of the tonearm,  vertical/horizontal sensivity etc, etc..

I used the XV-1s in the SME V and like @dover  posted:

"  SME V is a natural partner and is excellent with the Dynavector. "

I know that the V makes the XV-1s shows at its best. How the Triplanar and why surpass that excellence grade quality performance mounted in the 20/2?

R.

I tend to agree with Ralph on this issue. I have no direct experience with the Tri-Planar, but agree that people tend to underestimate the value of a fully adjustable tonearm and a well adjusted cartridge as opposed to spending mega-bucks on a cartridge. Note that Ralph's experience with a cutting lathe, and knowing exactly what sound was engraved on a subsequent record  is invaluable, and is the kind of experience that few on the site can use as a reference, no matter how many mega-bucks they have to spend.I have never found any of the advice given by Ralph on this site to be in error, and the characterization of his advice by Raulruegras as stupid, is  reprehensible.

Dear @oldears : I’m not even touch the tonearm adjustable facilities. So, where are you?, because is not the issue.

Read again my post and wait for his " expert " answer to what I asked.

Btw, for any expert recording engeneering this fact just can’t gives him the cartridge/tonearm in deep experiences several true expert audiophiles have not only in this site ( as @dover ) but all over the internet forums.

I’m not a true expert audiophile but I have " thousands " of first hand experiences with over 150+ top MC/MM/MI in my room/system and many more in other room/systems and first hand experiences ( because I owned and own ) with over 40+ top tier vintage and today tonearms and even rigth now I have mounted in my room/system 3 absolutely first rate unique tonearms designed/builded by a friend and me.

So what are you talking about? impressed by " Ralph " in that specific subject? of course due to your very low cartridge/tonearm knowledge levels. You said: " I tend to agree with Ralph ": in something that you not even understand it? how is that?.

 But wait for his answer because I’m always willing to learn coming from any one and every where, even from you.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

My apologies for the confusion, my post above is under the wrong OP, I will resend it attached to the correct one.

several grades? : how many grades and where are stated ?

@rauliruegas  If memory serves the bearings in the SME 5 are the hardest commercially available. The bearings in the Triplanar are not commercially available; Triplanar has a security clearance to get the bearings they use. Only one supplier exists worldwide that makes them.


Specifically as it was explained to me by Herb Papier, the problem he ran into was that over a period of years he noticed that many arms needed to be readjusted. He found that the reason was that the bearings would fail over time in the field- due to use and minor abuse the bearing points would blunt. Since he wanted to reduce friction, he used the smallest bearings he could find which made the problem worse. So brute force was applied (IMO); he found and installed the hardest metal bearings made anywhere, which solved the problem.


SME deals with the reliability issue by having physically larger bearings. So their arms tend to have more friction.