A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Dear Ct, Henry, and anyone else who is disturbed by my occasional digs at your approach to tonearm mounting: Believe me when I say you have my blessings in whatever you do, and I enjoy reading about the construction of the various pods. The fact that I have not tried it and may never try it is not a sign that I am a troglodyte; it merely shows that my plate is very full with other projects that have to take precedence, not to mention going to work every day. Altho you know quite well my theoretical objections to arm pods, which are largely the same as Dertonearm's, I am sure that an outboard arm pod can sound perfectly wonderful. I also think all of us can tolerate much more in the way of imperfections in our music reproduction than any of us cares to admit, so I doubt I would hear it if my arm pod were to "walk" a few mm in one direction or another with respect to my tt. I am very happy with what I have in the way of tt's right now.

Nandric, Did you tell me that you own a Kuzma 4-point tonearm? After reading Fremer's review, I am interested in that device.

Dear Lewm & Daniel,
We are all thick-skinned enough to take the occasional barb :^)
I started this thread because of my surprise at the results of both the 'nude' DD turntable approach and the isolated 'armpods'.
They far exceeded my expectations and the implementation of both approaches is relatively easy for others to try.
So far, we have seen no negative responses from anyone who has actually sampled the approach but we have several 'naysayers' who haven't?
It seems rather odd to be offering opinions based on 'theories' when the 'proof of the pudding' is so easily abled to be sampled?
Rather like commenting on a cartridge without having heard it?:^)

If this advice follows the logic of Rauls recommendations
( not p but q)some of us will get fantastic arm pods for cheap. My only worry is the high cost of postage from Australia to Europe.
T_bone, Everything seems to be better in the USA. This of course apply also to the cats.

Regards,

Dear Lew, I expected some euphoria about the victory of your galleons. But instead your are chalenging my nationalistic feelings. Slovenia and Kuzma are my ex brothers and I already own Kuzma's TT. There are boundaries to any kind of tolerance,you know.
But If Kuzma offered one for free as a token of our reconciliation I am willing to (re) consider my tolerance.

Regards,

Dear Henry,
it is not disputed at all - at least not by me - that a "nude" turntable paired with an "isolated/free" armpod(s) can sound very good.
For a limited period of time.
With certain arm/cartridge combination (the higher the compliance - the better).
Even I have tried separate arm pods as long back as 1986 (if I remember right they were pretty hefty - approx 30 lbs each) in conjunction with a Le Tallec and a Micro Seiki skeleton TT.
Neither Lewm nor I do offer opinions based on theories here.
What we did was acting as advocati physici.
Technically - and ultimately sonically - there is no single advantage of isolated arm pod versus firmly attached armbase.
If isolated arm pods can and do - undisputed by me - sound so good in comparison with so many plinth-based tt, then the explanation is easy, logic and showing that there still is a lot of work to do in many integrated turntable concepts.
In any case - where is the problem, why not simply prevent an isolated arm pod (but by all means do at least place arm pod and tt on the same ground/shelf, whatever ) from moving by means of adhesive tape or similar.
Easy to remove, easy to alter.
But it is not just "movement" - it is too energy transfer and reflections.
That's why it works comparatively well with high compliance MMs - they but very little energy into the tonearm.
Peace on earth .....
Cheers,
D.