Linear Tracking Turntables - Best??


Entertaining the idea of acquiring a linear tracking turntable. Which was condidered the most sota. Ease of set up and maintenace is a prerequsite. Most I have talked with,say linear only way to go. OK AUDIOGON MEMBERS ITS YOUR TURN. Convince me one way or the other
ferrari
Tim, OK, I don't know of any arm, which does not deed a lot of tweaking and readjustment. The better and the more demanding your hearing is, the more you are compelled to tweak. For the rest, my personal experience mirrors that of djnorth's. I've experimented for over 12 years until I settled for a heavily modified Goldmund and an equally modified Souther aka Clear Audio arm. Since then somewhat less tweaking and aural happyness has set in. Regards,
Go pivot arm for ease and maintenance. There's a trade off between the music virtues and good looks of linear tracking setups and pivot arms. I concur with Slugo's points from personal experience (except the Rockport of course). I had a Goldmund Studio with a 3F arm for many years. It produced beautiful music and it was fairly easy to maintain if you kept the VTA constant. Changing the VTA meant tweaking other things to get it sound just right. Pivot arms such as Graham 2.2's or Triplainer's allow for very easy tiny adjustments for each record thus producing a better chance of getting the music right for more records more often with less fuss. My current set up is Basis 2500/Graham 2.0 and Koetsu Onyx Platinum - just so you know my bias. Still, I wish I had kept that Goldmund - it was outstanding. I know my perfectly maintained Goldmund was a steal for the buyer. You might find one like that for you.
Right Gerry, changing VTA on the Goldmund was an absolute bitch, which bugged me so much, that I had it modified to be operated by remote control from my listening position. Since then I'm spoilt. Don't mean to show off, just wanted to say that it is a worthwhile tweak. It takes some good mechanical engineering however.
Yamaha px-3. I own one! after years of pivoted arms and high end turntables and tweaking I bought one of these used...slapped on an old grado magnetic and ummmm...should it sound this good?...no head shell alignment...as it tracks linearly!...no anti skating adjustment!...buttons to select Lp or 45 to start at beginning of album so no manual setting down of arm!....why did I wait soooooo long. Anyone who thinks that you have to tweak this thing is sadly mistaken! It just works and sounds good...Isn't that what lets us enjoy the music a little bit more.
Pioneer PL-L1000. Unique silent tonearm drive, excellent DD motor, simple to set up (some need to have the optical sensor tweaked, but this is doable).