1. Home
  2. analog
  3. 150758-92835

Trans-Fi Terminator Tonearm: 2019 Update

In reading a few related posts on linear tracking tonearm, in general,  and Trans-Fi Terminator , in particular, I thought I would give a brief update of the Terminator.

I purchased the arm directly from Andrey in Moscow two months ago. From what I understand, Andrey has taken over production after Vic's retirement. What I received is the most up-to-date version of the arm with the carbon fibre wand and brass counterweights, the direct wire leads from cartridge to  phono amp, and a new brass manifold ( not evident from the main web-site). Both the wand and the new manifold are Andrey's contribution to the continued refinement of the Terminator.

Also,  please visit this site: https://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/terminator-tonearm-new-arm-mount/. This gentlemen from NZ has developed a new arm mount for the Terminator which advanced the arm's sonics even further. It was reading through the the development of this new arm mount that convinced me to order the Terminator after much prior research. I did not purchase the arm mount from NZ as it would not readily fit my Verdier La Platine, instead Andrey made a custom arm mount. It is in essence a two point support mount rather than a single point support rod that is commonly used. 

My previous arm was a SME V of 1990's vintage mounted with a ZYX airy. The Terminator is several notch above the SME V. All the accolades given to the Terminator seem justified. My main point in writing is that the new developments by Andrey, i.e. the carbon fibre wand and the newest brass manifold, seem to improve upon the Terminator even more ( see link above ). This is the news that I wanted to share with existing Terminator owners. I asked Andrey to start a blog on all the new stuff that is happening with the arm, but it seems that he is busy making 'things'!




ledoux1238
ledoux1238 OP
422 posts
 

@pindac Thanks for the reply.

I had an accessary sent from Russia to me in 2022 and it took two months through its postal service. With the War on, I did not expect a reply from Andrey. 

Anyone has an unused carbon fiber wand for sale ?

qwin's avatar
qwin
37 posts
 

Hi
On the subject of wands and upgrades......
I’ve been a Terminator user for over a decade.
Back in the day, when Vic at TransFi was fitting steel pivot pins, running directly in the Aluminium "V" of the Strap extrusion, users like myself were experiencing chatter based distortion. I discussed this with Vic and mentioned I was going to try lining the "V" with various materials including Silicon and Nylon. This would not be easy to achieve as a production feature and I mentioned that an alternative might be to use Nylon pivot pins, which are available off the shelf, just requiring a point to be added. This is where we followed different paths, Vic followed the plastic pin route and I followed the plastic "V" route. I removed material from the bottom of the strap extrusion and let in some Nylon 6 strips.

This works very well and by pressing down with finger pressure, the steel pins leave impressions in the Nylon, which stops the wand moving around in the "V" or sliding out when I return the slider to its resting position a bit to enthusiastically.

Another issue I had, was the Mounting Plate was flexing/bending when I tightened the Pivot Bolt. This made levelling the Sled almost impossible, so I designed and made a stronger Mounting Plate.

 

 

This mounting is much stronger.
I will be turning my attention to smoothing the air supply next, maybe filling the tank with Polystyrene beads.
You can see my whole project, including my method of wire dressing, on my Web Blog Here:

ledoux1238 OP
422 posts
 

@qwin

I visited your web blog and browse through your art work...very nice.

Regarding all your tweaks and modification on the Terminator tone arm, they, too, look impressive. Most of  your modifications have been adpoted by Andrey when I bought my tonearm from him.

What is most interesting is your mounting plate. I'd like to PM you and see if I can buy one from you, if you are willing to make extra. 

 

 

qwin's avatar
qwin
37 posts
 

I did a long post explaining why I cant make for others and how to go about making one yourself, but it did not publish and was lost.

ledoux1238 OP
422 posts
 

@qwin HA! HA! It was quite presumptuous of me to think that you would. My apologies! What would be helpful is if you would share the CAD file or a PDF file of the mounting plate. If not, your photos are quite clear, I’ll be able to figure it out. 
 

I have been working on dressing the phono wires as you have this year. My scheme is quite primitive in comparison to yours, but I use medical tape. It’s very thin and about 4cm wide. I tape it on the slider, make a slit at the center, and pull the wires underneath the tape. It works fine. 
 

I think when you start to work on the air filtration tanks, you will find a further improvement on SQ. I am up to 150L of air filtration with a combination of various 20L plastic and stainless steel tanks. But I am in the process of simplifying the tanks by getting a 120L single stainless steel tank with a couple of 20L ones to supplement, less contact point for leakage. Please update your experience when appropriate. 

More to discover