Unipivot vs Linear Tracking


I set up my first Unipivot arm night before last. It took roughly 5 hours to set up and I am still tweaking various parts and cartridge, what a work out. The arm is a Scheu classic with the Scheu Premier I turntable and a Scheu Benz cartridge.

Now I have two questions for the Audiogon club.
1. Do you consider linear Tracking superior to Unipivot?
2. Which would you say is harder to set up properly?
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Dear Sirspeedy, Can you recall the name of the LT arm that was used as a comparator in that review, OR can you supply a reference to the article? Sounds like there was only one well recognized top quality pivoted arm involved, the Brinkmann. The one or two reasonably priced LT arms that are now currently on the market do interest me.
And by the way, what is the significance of all the quotation marks you use around single words and phrases?
The Cartridge Man is the first arm,I believe!I cannot remember the second one.Btw,I did hear the Brinkman this winter...thought it was beautifully made,and loved the sound of the system it was in.

Why the concern regarding my punctuation?
I did some research after posting. The cartridge man is one inexpensive LTer and then there is also another one that uses nested triangular girders. Can't tell what that one costs, but it would seem to be in the $1K range or less. If LTs at that level of cost could compete with top line pivoted arms, that would go a long way in support of any thesis that posits the inherent superiority of the design. But I don't think it would be the case.

No concern re your punction. Just curious.
Most is written about those arm, but Mikelavigne wrote something very interesting I discovered, too.
A linear Tracker is in my opinion very sensitive to the quality of the Turntable, or lets say it the other way, I think, a LT on a normal Turntable can sound good, but in a comparison to regular Arms the Listener can get the impression "so what?", same comparison on a top turntable can push the curtain. I thought, based on it's "Air Bearing" the Turntable is not that important, but now I think different.
Wow! How could I miss this thread?

On LTT and Unipivots: my personal experience is the LTT has the advantage and it is audibly superior to pivoted arms in general.

The most obvious difference is the soundstage. LTT throw a huge and wide 3D stage extending both laterally and depthwise. The pivoted arm on the other hand, has a soundstage which is somewhat "curtailed/curved" at the back.

The 2nd difference is in the dreaded end-of-side distortion, which though some good pivoted designs are able to reduce significantly, they cannot completely be rid of some mistracking. The soundstage may sound a little smaller or confused with pivoted designs, but this does not happen with an LTT.

The issue with LTT is associated with the pump. I run mine 24/7 outside the listening room so as to not interfere with the music. It is audible, especially if your system is quiet. Setup of LTT will depend on the design of the arm. Once the armbase is set, lining up a cart on a LTT is much easier than a pivoted - its either ON or OFF.

As to whether it is worth going for a LTT, if your budget fits, absolutely. That is not to say that the good pivoted tonearms don't sound good, they do and I could live with my Schroeder even if I didn't have the Conductor.