@rauliruegas those are interesting options. I'm most intrigued by the Schroeder design which looks simplest. The Thales would appear to suffer from skating seen in conventional pivoted arms, due to the headshell being offset as it traverses, albeit with a changing offset. The Reed requires a battery and Michael Fremer wasn't impressed with its bass performance. Fremer couldn't fault the Kuzma as long as the dampening trough was used. I understand that it is cartridge dependent. My low compliance Soundsmith looks to be well suited. I need to see a review that directly pits the Schroeder against the Kuzma. Also, I'm not sure if I would give up anything that I'm currently getting with my SME 312S. Yes, it's got the extra length for lower tracking error, but I still hear inner groove compromises so that's why I'm looking seriously at linear trackers.
Top linear trackers
I’m in the market soon for a linear tracking tonearm. Two in particular have piqued my interest, the Kuzma Airline with damping trough and the Bergmann Odin. From what I can tell, these designs have especially benefited from lessons learned during the evolution of linear tracking, incorporating features like longish tonearms to minimize warp wow, ultra low friction, low air turbulence, and mitigation of the high horizontal mass issue by use of a damping trough (not sure of the Odin on that). The Odin is known to have a very quiet pump. The lift on the Kuzma may be easier to operate. I would love to hear from anyone with long term experience with these arms or comparable other ones. I would be mounting this on my current VPI Classic 4 and most likely using my Soundsmith Sussoro Mark 2 ES. That cartridge should work with either arm based on the resonance calculations. Down the road I may consider moving the arm to a Sota Cosmos Eclipse or a Technics custom SP10R or another high value setup. I cannot afford the Bergmann Galder with Odin. If I could I probably would have reached the end of my journey.
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earthtones I’m hell bent on eliminating the curse of standard pivoted arms.What curse is that? Before you answer "tracking error," why not audition an underhung arm? If you do, you might find it difficult to believe that a pivoted arm’s tacking error is even remotely audible. What arm are you using now? |
I like the idea that linear tracker tonearms follows the groove the same way it was originally cut vs the pivot tonearms with only 2 null points thus introducing distortion, although many/most may say they cannot hear the difference. Because orchestra music often ends in a crescendo, I like the idea to hear it without the possible pivoted tonearm distortion. Regarding air linear trackers, because Fremer described his dislike of past LT as the arm “chattering” along the track - thus I have zero interest in mining old/used designs. The new modern air LT tonearms are so much better in engineering, tolerances, materials, and manufacturing. But air LT adds more complexity with the pump, hose, track, and future maintenance. The Thales LT uses 2 parallel arms to keep the cartridge aligned with the groove. Tuning 2 arms vs 1 and introducing more pivoting points adds to the complexity, friction, and may introduce more problems. The Reed 5T uses a laser/electronics to move/keep the cartridge aligned. If this complex design needs future maintenance.... For LT, I currently favor the Schröder LT tonearm for it’s simplicity and Frank’s reputation in tonearms. The drawback is that reviews are practically non-existent. My baseless guess is that because Frank already has his hands very full making/selling his other tonearms that he has little/no interest in further marketing/selling his LT tonearm. |
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