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.
