I have not opened the links, why would I,
and
The Links are more than adequate to experience the Sat TA.
...appear to be at odds. Can you help me with that?
Comparison of sonic qualities of some tonearms
I’m relatively new to the world of vinyl, listening seriously for probably only 2 years. Of course, many big picture items (e.g. turntable, phono stage, cartridges) are discussed extensively on this forum, but I haven’t seen much discussion comparing different tonearms. I would be interested to hear about different people’s experiences with different tonearms, mentioning the audible advantages and disadvantages of each tonearm, realizing that there is no perfect sound, although from what I read about others’ experiences, SAT tonearms may come closest, albeit at a very high price.
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@pindac Yup you missed something. I have repeatedly said that a good tonearm should not alter the sound in any way. Now, if you were going from a bad arm to a good one there may be an obvious change in the sound from colored with distortion to neutral with less distortion. All great arms sound the same although depending on effective mass might alter the bass a little depending on the cartridge compliance. There is one challenge left in tonearm design that might move state of the art a little and that is a linear tracker that maintains all the necessary parameters of tonearm performance and moves the arm across the record. noiselessly and accurately. All the arms that have tried to do this like the Rabco did not have the right technology available to them. That tech is available now and I am trying to get the right people interested. |
@pindac I would not buy a SAT arm if it cost $5000.00. It is a bad design. The vertical bearing should be down at record level and it is a stable balance arm, not neutral balance. A tonearm shaft taper is nice but it does not have to be that fat. The size of the SME V is fine. From a technical standpoint the SME V is a better arm. But it is too old and inexpensive to be any good. The press really drives this effect. My next arm will be either the Schroder LT or the Reed 5T. Whichever arm I get I will do so without an audition. If there is an issue with either arm I will deal with it. |
It was inevitable, but the subject of the thread has now become how a tonearm should be designed and built, rather than how a tonearms sounds. Unfortunately, we've done this new topic to death in previous threads. I don't expect my pointing this out to sober anyone up. Carry on. I may as well throw in my own thoughts on the SATs. We all had to take them to get into a good college, so I don't see why the younger generation should be exempt. As for the SAT tonearms, they may be the finest sounding tonearms in the world (or not), but the prices are beyond irrational. |
Yes, I think this sums it up nicely, which is why I was interested in hearing other peoples' experiences with various tonearms, as theory can only take us so far. As I listen to more tonearms, I will add to this thread in a more meaningful manner, but I'll probably try one new tonearm every year or two, so my input will be rather minimal.
I think @pindac is our resident quantum philosopher to whom all things are possible at all times, but only if not directly observed. . . 😉 |
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