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TriPlanar Tips

The manual that comes with the TriPlanar Mk VII tonearm is fairly complete, but there are a few things I’ve learned only by living with the arm. Note: I do not know which if any of these would apply to previous versions of the arm. My only experience is with the Mk VII.

1. NEVER raise the cueing lever while the arm is locked in the arm rest. This pressures the damping cylinder and could cause a silicone leak. For this reason and also for safety, whenever the arm is in the arm rest the cueing lever should be DOWN. This is backwards from most arms and takes some getting used to.

2. If your Tri-Planar doesn't cue straight down there's a quick fix, which may be included on some new arms. The problem is insufficient friction between the arm tube and the hard rubber cueing support bar. Just glue a bit of thin sandpaper to the underside of the arm tube. Make it big enough and position it so it hits the cueing support bar at all points across the arm’s arc. (Note: after doing this you will need to adjust the cueing height, see Tip #3.)

3. When adjusting cueing height (instructions are in the manual) always do so with the arm in the UP position. This adjustment is VERY touchy, since the cueing support bar is so close to the pivot. Be patient and be careful of your cartridge. (Note: after doing this you may need to adjust the anti-skate initiation point, see Tip #4.)

Chris Brady of Teres told me of a way to improve cueing even more by re-shaping the cueing support. Moving the cueing support point farther from the pivot improves its mechanical advantage and makes the cueing height and speed adjustments less touchy. This mod is easier than it sounds and requires only a length of coat hanger (!), but I don’t have pix and haven’t yet done it myself.

4. Changing the cueing height affects the point where anti-skate kicks in. (Yes, it's weird.) Once cueing height is satisfactory, adjust the short pin that sticks out of the front of the cueing frame. That pin controls where the anti-skate dogleg first engages the knot on the string.

5. The Tri-Planar comes with three counterweight donuts of differing masses. Many cartridges can be balanced using either of two. The arm usually tracks best with the heaviest donut that will work, mounted closer to the pivot. Of course this also reduces effective mass, which may or may not be sonically desirable depending on the cartridge. It also leaves more room for Tip #6.

6. For fine VTF adjustments don’t futz with the counterweight, there’s an easier way. Set the counterweight for the highest VTF you think you’ll need (ie, close to the pivot). Pick up some 1/4" I.D. O-rings from Home Depot. To reduce VTF a bit just slip an O-ring or two on the end stub. Thin O-rings reduce VTF by .01-.02g, thick ones by .04-.05g. Quick, cheap, effective. (For safety, always lock the arm down while adding or removing O-rings.)

7. When adjusting VTA, always bring the pointer to the setting you want by turning it counter-clockwise at least ¼ of a turn. This brings the arm UP to the spot you've selected, which takes up the slop in the threads. You can easily feel this happening.

Hope someone finds these useful. If you know any more, please bring ‘em on!
dougdeacon
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,641 posts
 
The Triplanar is recommended for cartridges which do not reflect ANY energy into the Arm. The Arm looks solid, but it isn't.

All cartridges can put energy into the arm if they are not set up right. What is supposed to happen instead is that the stylus motion is transduced into electrical energy. That will be impaired if the cartridge is putting energy into the arm (usually the result of improper effective mass: the combination of cartridge compliance with incorrect choice of counterweights, resulting in a mechanical resonance outside the recommended 7-12Hz)

The strength of the Triplanar is that everything is adjustable so that the cartridge can be set up precisely. When this is done the energy applied to the arm itself will be minimized. The arm tube is also internally and externally damped- it is one of the more dead arm tubes made.
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
All cartridges can put energy into the arm if they are not set up right.

Well, I know it is a secret and - confidential - only between you and me:
All cartridges can put energy into the Arm even when the set up is perfect.
The next hidden secret, the resonance 8-12 is just an information but more or less useless because the materials in the Arm can vary (steel, aluminum, ceramic, wood .....) and it has absolutely no influence to the Arm geometry for example, or the bearing...(when it is done wrong it is wrong, even with a theoretical data of 10.0)
The Triplanar VII was ok when nothing better than a Graham 2.0 was available but when the first Phantom was launched, it was a total different chapter from the sonic result and the matching with all kind of cartridges.The strength of the Phantom is that everything is adjustable so that the cartridge can be set up precisely.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,641 posts
 
Syntax, that strength of the Phantom is one shared by the Triplanar. It really sounds to me that you had either incorrect setup or simply a poor match between arm and cartridge.

You are correct that all cartridges put energy into the arm- this is how the arm moves across the LP after all.

The trick in the setup is such that the information is transduced by the cartridge rather than applied to the arm tube. This is done by setting up the proper effective mass, which has nothing at all to do with the materials of the arm as long as the resulting mechanical resonance falls within the target area. IOW the last sentence of your first paragraph in the post above flies in the face of tone arm theory in general.

jsman
246 posts
 
So are we still removing the trough for better sound quality???
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

My problem may be connected with Syntax ''discovery''. But first

thing first. My armboard is made by Kuzma for my Kuzma Stabi

Reference. The distance spindle -pivot is exactly 233,5 mm. I also

own Mint tractor made specific for my Kuzma /Triplanar combo.

My problem is this. I use the so called ''tracking ability'' test records

as a kind of orientation for the needed VTF. My goal is to get 60

microns ''pure'' for any MC cart I use. Don't ask me why (grin).

Well my problem is that my Triplanar ''refuses'' to track better

than 50 microns with whatever cart.  Even the carts which track

70 microns with my FR-64 S.

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