Thales Simplicity tonearm review in Stereophile.

I think that the most significant point to Fremer's Review......was the fact that on digital recordings he made using the Thales and a normally pivoted arm......no-one was able to pick which recording used which arm?
This result is confirmed by my experience with many listeners to my normally pivoted tonearms.....who never seem to leap up and exclaim....."ahhh.........null point.....null point" when the cartridge happens to hit the spot just twice on each record's side? :-)

But then again.......on Fremer's digital recordings of his cartridge tests.......the vast majority of listeners preferred MM cartridges in a Mid-Fi arm and table.....to his $8000.00 LOMC Anna cartridge in his Cobra/Caliburn combination?

HighEnd Audio......like religion......is mostly 'faith' based and led.....rather than logic, science and experience based......with a few notable exceptions IMHO?

Henry, Don't you think that Fremer's results with digital recordings made with the Thales vs "normal" pivoted tonearms could as well indicate a failing of the Thales, in terms of its engineering? For example, someone wrote that it has an offset headshell and thus generates skating force. That right there is what you would hope to be rid of, if you are going to the bother and expense of establishing tangency across the LP. (I did not know that about the Thales and was disappointed to read it here.) I think much of the distortion that some claim to hear with pivoted tonearms vs LT ones is due to the constant variations in skating force across the LP, rather than to tracking angle distortion. Then too there is the issue of bearing friction.

It would be more telling if Fremer or one of us would do a double-blind digitized comparison of the Trans-fi or the Schroeder LT, vs a conventional pivoted arm.

Here is a foreign review that is easy to read. http://www.audiotechnique.com/reference/thales/355_thales_tonarm_eng.pdf

It has some better pictures. I have to say I agree with MF about the setup jig not being ideal.

One of MF's recent blog posts showed a photo of his stylus/cantilever. It was totally mucked up due to improper/inadequate cleaning practices. Anyone listening to or measuring the output of a cartridge in such appalling condition would have no way of assessing its true capabilities.

Based on that post, it's apparent that MF either has not acquired or does not practice the basics of system maintenance required to be considered a credible reviewer.

Let's not dismiss the Simplicity so offhandedly. After all, Mr. Fremer gave a glowing review of Thales' top of the line AV model, which features even more complicated pivot bearings. Theoretically the AV (stands for Aluminum Version) offers the possibility of perfect tangency (I know the word tangency should be like pregnancy, either it is or it is not.) due to the geometry of the Thales semi-circle. The Simplicity, whose name is a response to the more complicated AV, using a tetragon solution that reduces the tracking error to a maximum of 0.008° and this value is probably too small to be of any interest. It's still a formidable design with the ease of headshell swapping and with a 230mm mounting distance that's suitable for most turntables. The embedded magnets on the split counterweights are also ingenious. Even if the resulted sound is questionable at least Mr. Micha Huber offers an fully pivoting alternative to airbearing or mechanical linear bearing a la Clearaudio, since the days of Garrard Zero 100.

I readily agree that the Schröder LT is a more effective approach to minimize skating force but I am certain Frank is willing to give credit to Mr. Huber's for his thinking out of the box design. In tangential tracking if the cartridge cantilever to the static pivot point form a straight line, there will be zero skating force. Frank's design, by his claim, minimizes it to such low level to be inconsequential. I guess the knock on the Simplicity and AV is that they behave just like most conventional pivot arm.

Just for fun, here's a German website that offers more than 50 digitized samples of three different tracks of various analog set ups with different tonearms, cartridges, and phono stages. However, the turntable is not listed so perhaps the German speaking members here can enlighten us. Sample #43 uses the Thales Simplicity arm and sample $44 uses SME V with same tune and same set up. Both files are over 150MB and are downloadable.

HiFi Statement Net Magazine Sound Library

English version via Google Translate

Sample #43, Thales Simplicity tonearm

Sample #44, SME V, the rest same as above

Any difference?

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