A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Such passion over a hunk of metal ! Is this not a great hobby that can generate this much passion over an inanimate object.

Dear D, Lew - I realize that Henry’s pods do kind of look like little gods in the sun – but trust me – they are not real. This is not Greek Mythology. They don't get up in the middle of the night and start dancing together.

No - Something tells me there has to be more to this to stir up these emotions because building one is not rocket science.

- Could it be egos ?
- Could it be religious in nature ?
- Could it be this POD changes our way of life ?
- Could it have an impact on my business $$ if it becomes mainstream in this hobby ? Ouch – that one hurt.

Pick one or make up your own because I really don’t get what the commotion is all about.

For those of us that use them they bring “better” sonics, flexibility, choices we never had before.

"Excuses", at this point, are just a mask for some form of bias or denial.” Arthur Salvatore

Just wanted to add from my direct experience and conversations with other people that use PODS. Most do not have 4 pods set up ready to go like Henry does.
So others change these PODS in and out with different tonearms and cartridges frequently - weekly to monthly for some who prefer certain tonearms/cartridges with different music.

To these people - aligning a tonearm/cartridge on a pod takes literally all of 1 or 2 minutes. You move the whole pod around till its lined up. Hence their popularity, flexibility and advantage, regardless of the better sonics being discussed here.

So IMO - the theory of these microscopic movements never comes into play here. It’s a moot point based on the vinyl POD persons habits.

I can also add from my direct experience and I know that D is aware of this. Unlike a pivot arm - a linear tracker tells you right away if something is out. In fact it screams it. If it is not dialed in, it is like watching TV in the old days with an antennae – remember the haze around the image until you moved the antennae around to get the image clear.

Cheers Chris

Dear Chris,'Such passion over a hunk of metal.' You should
check the gold price at present. BTW never heard about fetishism?

Regards,

Dear Henry, dear Chris, dear Nikola, "such passion" - really?
I rather perceive this tread and discussion about the pro and cons of "free" arm pods as being moderate and kind of "in cool ( if not cold ...) blood".
In any case - I certainly do not want to discredit the whole topic and the " free arm pod" pro-camp .
Everything is fine, as long as a separate arm pod is used for a limited period of time and/or to test a given tonearm quick and without drilling mounting holes in a precious plinth.
Aside from the "relative movement", there are other issues going with - any - separate arm pod ( energy transmission and reflections et al ).
Given equal care and smart design, a separate arm pod will ( .. sorry about that, Texas! ...) be 2nd choice - quality-wise ( if - of course - more convenient ).
It nevertheless has it's merits and does ease tonearm testing.
The armboards originally invented by Micro Seiki and copied by many others since can be seen as "cantilevers" - but at least they keep strict distance.

The molecular point of view is not applicable here - the derivations in atomic structure and surface are there in any case.
We have to cope and deal with them anyway.
This however does not affect the relative movement of two fairly lightweight bodies (everything is lightweight here - everything under a ton ) relative to each other caused by building resonance and energy transfer - sorry, but these are different "animals".
Furthermore these movements aren't in Microns nor Angstroems - they can approach 1/100 mm and more quite fast.
If we might not "detect" it by worsening sound nor derivation on a tangential template which line is already 1 mm thick does not alter nor deny the physical phenomenon.
A free arm pod will wander - so why do not use a adhesive tape to secure it in place ?
Easy to detach again and eliminating - or at least lessening - the "relative wandering".
Best,
D.

Nikola,
If cats only have seven lives in Holland and you need a few extra lives out of your cat, you need to import some from the USA where they have nine.