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Are linear tracking arms better than pivoted arms?

My answer to this question is yes. Linear tracking arms trace the record exactly the way it was cut. Pivoted arms generally have two null points across the record and they are the only two points the geometry is correct. All other points on the record have a degree of error with pivoted arms. Linear tracking arms don't need anti-skating like pivoted arms do which is another plus for them.

Linear tracking arms take more skill to set up initially, but I feel they reward the owner with superior sound quality. I have owned and used a variety of pivoted arms over the years, but I feel that my ET-2 is superior sounding to all of them. You can set up a pivoted arm incorrectly and it will still play music. Linear tracking arms pretty much force you to have everything correct or else they will not play. Are they worth the fuss? I think so.
mepearson
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
..or Garrard idler, or a 30-40 year old direct drive EMT, Technics, Sony or Pioneer....with a modern arm, improved plinth, and LOMC cartridge can compete on the highest level of tt performance..

Sounds for an upgrade for electronics which can show the difference.
mikelavigne
2,147 posts
 
Sounds for an upgrade for electronics which can show the difference.

huuuuummmmmmmmmmm.

ok, i'll play.

like what?
hiho
451 posts
 

actually, the basic guts (of vintage tables)...with a modern arm, improved plinth, and LOMC cartridge can compete on the highest level of tt performance.

I agree with you, Mike. By now, the idler-drive genre has enough ink on them without me adding anything new to the topic. What is little talked about is the "guts" of direct-drive tables. Many vintage DD units suffered from bad plinth design with inadequate solidity (often mounted to crappy plastic or flimsy particle-board), and isolation from resonance and interference of electronics. I like the bare bone approach, that is, to take the motor out of the chassis/plinth/enclosure and mount it to a something solid, material of your own choice, and extend the cable by at least couple feet to the stock chassis or an enclosure that contains the electronics/motor-drive/control-console/power-supply. In fact, the Monaco Grand-Prix, Teres Certus, or early Micro-Seiki DDX/DQX-1000 takes the same approach.

Almost ALL DD tables can be improved this way. Mike have done that with your Technics SP-10Mk3 with the slate plinth, same concept. There are many other brands of superb DD tables with great potential out there can be had for very reasonable price and can be converted this way with good result. I no longer have any Technics tables but I still got great results with many mid-priced JVC, Pioneer, Kenwood, Yamaha, etc... I haven't tried it on Sony and Denon tables yet because they require mounted a tapehead to check platter speed so the mounting is tricky. Modern belt-drive turntables have been doing similar things by separating the motor from the main plinth. Once again, Micro-Seiki was ahead of their time with their RX-1500 and beyond. It's only logical DD will go that direction. The days of having everything in a box for DD tables seems less attractive to me now.

Once again, I went off topic from tonearm discuss so I guess I should really create a new thread. Anyway, just a thought.

_________
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
High End Audio Industry has lost its way, there's no hope now. Audio actually used to have a goal: perfect reproduction of the sound of real music performed in a real space. That was found difficult to achieve, and it was abandoned when most music lovers, who almost never heard anything except amplified music anyway, forgot what "the real thing" had sounded like. Today, "good" sound is whatever one likes. Fidelity is irrelevant to music.
Since the only measure of sound quality is that the listener likes it, that has pretty well put an end to audio advancement, because different people rarely agree about sound quality.
mikelavigne
2,147 posts
 
Syntax,

that's some heavy s*** for a Sunday. you need to cut down on your Wagner and listen to more Bob Marley. it's springtime, enjoy the music.

cheers.
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