Hana Umami Black

@mulveling My original plan was to do the upgrade. However I have the Piano Black version, and Musical Surroundings wanted to make sure I had well-matched plinths so they worked with my dealer to offer a trade for a new retail unit of the MI, and it didn't cost me more either. I guess it pays to be a good and repeat customer over the years.

I now have three tonearms on my MI: two 12" Universal and a now a Tracer in addition.

@mulveling My original plan was to do the upgrade. However I have the Piano Black version, and Musical Surroundings wanted to make sure I had well-matched plinths so they worked with my dealer to offer a trade for a new retail unit of the MI, and it didn’t cost me more either. I guess it pays to be a good and repeat customer over the years.

I now have three tonearms on my MI: two 12" Universal and a now a Tracer in addition.

Yep. They’ve also incorporated small changes / upgrades into the Master over years. The central bearing column has been notably beefed up. Acrylic platters you get today from Clearaudio can be a different color than those of 10 years ago. For lots of reasons, the best way to get a "coherent" Master is to buy a table that was manufactured as a Master! Agreed, a good dealer relationship helps enormously. Mine just retired :(  

And the black lacquer you have is the best looking version IMO (though all versions are cool) - enjoy! How is the Tracer versus the Universal? Is it better in any ways? I liked the Universal, though sold it a while back. 

The Tracer is a very fine arm and pretty big bang for the buck, IMO. I have no hesitation recommending it. I think it's the perfect match for a Performance DC table, and a solid choice for the Ovation. It's not quite as good as the Universal (which is what I recommend for Innovation level turntables), but it's also half the cost. I am using it for my secondary cartridge(s) - a Koetsu Rosewood and a DV XV-12s. My two 12" Universal are used for my Lyra Atlas Lambda cartridges (one a SL, the other a Mono).

I observed that Musical Surroundings is now representing the Supatrac line of tonearms from the UK. I am curious how one of those will perform on a MI, not that I'm looking to make a change.

Someone was asking about the Hanna  Red cart I have had this in my system for about 3 years it in my opinion is wonderful sounding, most of what I listen to is Jazz and Steely Dan it is very warm not harsh. The very first table in my system about ten years ago included a midrange cart from this Co. at 1/2 price if you were to buy it at the same time as the table.  I liked this cart a lot that is why I was interested in red when it first came out. I tried another cart at 3x the price of the red it was harsh sounding and hard on my ears after a few hours never did settle down as the dealer said it would hope this helps

I observed that Musical Surroundings is now representing the Supatrac line of tonearms from the UK. I am curious how one of those will perform on a MI, not that I’m looking to make a change.

@dwette  These days a no-nonsense, quality gimbal is what appeals to me. Everything else just gets needlessly overcomplicated, or lacks stability for heavy low-compliance carts like Koetsu. I have a friend interested in the Supratrac but it’s not for me. And the True-Glider, or other Well-Tempered spirit animals? You couldn’t pay me to use those lol. I liked the Graham Phantom, but in the end this seems like a lot of engineering to make a unipivot work more like a gimbal. 

The Tracer indeed seems like a nice sweet-spot for price, quality and handling. Good on Clearaudio for replacing the absurd magnetic-bearing (no stability, lots of easily excitable resonance modes) with something sensible! Wonderful cart collection you’ve got there. Koetsu in combination with something fast / detailed is always a good 1-2 punch that well-covers most of a record collection. I did that for a while - Koetsu for the older pressings and Shelter Harmony or Ortofon Windfeld for modern (I imagine Lyra delivers here). Of course sometimes you can mix that up for fun too :)