Discuss The Viv Lab Rigid Arm

Raul, I saw his comment, too.  Let the author defend it.

I found this interesting treatise on tonearm alignment in the context of a review of the Triplanar tonearm by Dick Olsher, which appeared in S'phile. If you read it to the end, his comments on the consequences of TAE are of note.  He also brings in skating force.

https://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/the_tri-planar_tonearm/index.html

@lewm  : He has or posted nothing that needs " defend " it.  He, as some of us, is spot on the whole issue.

Your latest posts seems to me that posted to justify in some way that you are satisfied with the wrong VIV tonearm but due that you like it you don't need to justify nothing to others but only maybe to you.

Again, the issue to have a self developed test/comparison " bullet proof " whole proccess is critical to detect any errors elsewhere and your proccess showed is not good enough to detect what is obvious and same for the other owners.

I know that almost no one cares about that test proccess but it's critical for any gentleman that think is a MUSIC lover an audiophile.

With out that test proved proccess you don't know what to look for, so you can't detect even what's obvious and is not your culprit but that proccess you have.

R.

Dear Raul, I often have a problem to figure out in what way you are questioning my opinions or abilities, because of the language barrier.  In this case, it seems you are saying that I am incapable of discerning what are to you and some others obvious issues with the Viv Float tonearm, because I don't have a "test proved process" to use as a basis for comparison.  Based on your past statements, going all the way back to the MM thread, I gather that you worked very hard to develop ways to test new equipment or program material by training yourself as a listener.  To my knowledge, you don't actually use test instruments to collect data, and you don't do a formal analysis of yours or anyone else's data to draw conclusions.  In the end, you rely upon your trained ears.  Perhaps you are exposed to quantitative analysis in some cases through your association with Jose'.  If so, I don't recall your ever bringing such information to Audiogon Forums.  All that said, and even assuming you are a better "listener" than I am, you have no experience with any underhung tonearm, so far as I know.  I have made the empirical observation that the Viv Float tonearm (and the RS-A1) sounds "good", better than one might ever expect based on theory as we have come to know modern tonearm theory.  And in some respects, the Viv is revealing in ways that other tonearms do not often achieve.  I have made no claim that the Viv is "the best" tonearm or that it is even "better" than good pivoted tonearms with overhang.  My 45 years of experience as a bench scientist tell me that when one gets a surprising result in an experiment, it is time to pay attention to those surprising data, because understanding what happened can sometimes lead to important alteration of one's belief system.  Here I am merely trying to understand why the Viv sounds so good with a variety of cartridges.  Since you have never heard it, you have no status in this discussion.  We all know in what ways  it defies convention.  That does not explain its goodness.  Meantime, you are welcome to read the discussion here, such as it is, but your criticism of my qualifications adds nothing.  At least I own and listen to the tonearm you so dislike, probably without ever having seen one in the flesh.

As to your inference that I cannot be a MUSIC lover, that's insulting.  So I see that you took your usual tack at the end of your post which is to suggest that my shortcomings are not my fault; they are merely due to a defecive "process".  Anyway, I posit that anyone who listens to music every day or plays an instrument, and who attends live concerts, and who says he or she is a music lover, IS a music lover. Most music lovers stay away from this Forum for good reason.

Dear @lewm : I never said you are not a MUSIC lover and if you understand that was only a bad explanation for my part but was not my attitude because I know for sire that as me you are first than all a MUSIC lover. Apologize for that.

Now, every one has a " test proccess " my developed test proccess is not listening to the " forest " because as a whole we just are " lost " very easy, what I’m looking in that " forest " ( example ) is one specific " tree " in one or more of the LP tracks used in the test proccess where I know that " tree " better as the fingers of my hand. I have different trees depending what I want to test/to look for. I’m not looking for what is sounds in any LP very good because this is the " forest " and we can easy lost in there.

You can talk with F.Crowder who not only has a top top room/system but from some years now is a professional reviewer, I was at his place twice and from the first time ( with the Essential 3150 ) I ask him for 2-3 LPs and fortunatelly he owned and after that and even the high quality system I gave him an opinion of some anomaly that I listen on that system and that he till that moment did not take in count to fix it.

Same happens at A.Porter place ( 3150 too ) where with one of my LP tracks not one but twice detected some anomalies in his top room/system, first listening he and me and the second time with other 6 audiophiles including a Dagogo reviewer and in that session I was the only that detect a deficient SPL in one system channel

I can give you a lot more examples with gentlemans of that caliber and in all cases were my first listening session with that room/system that before were unknow for me. Other places that I remember because I meet fabolous gentlemans was in San Diego as Idaho too and Georgi and if they are still Agoners could attest what I’m posting here.

Now, detected I those anomalies because I’m a golden ears audiophile? NO far away from there, I detected because I know exactly what to look for I was looking for that tree and not the " forest " at random and  that’s all.

My first hand experiences for overall 20 years developing my test proccess ( many times thise LP tracks appeared at random and from there I choosed. ) makes me to learn a lot and makes me to fix that test " tree " strategy because is more easy to look for a tiny/small specific part that look at random in the forest for that unknow tree.

Btw, I posted 4-5 times in the forum that I owned the RS A-1 and perhaps I was one of the first Agoners to do it. I owned around 3 months and sold.

More or less that’s what I do. Can I ask which is your test whole proccess or any one of Agoners in this thread ? We all must be always willing to learn from every member even that I know that I don’t like almost no body here and obviously no bo dy in wbf and other forums. Even that what I post is always trying to help in some way even if what the gentlemans read could teeel for them I’m " insulting " them, this is never my attitude but help.

R.