Ivor Tiefenbrun of Linn would not agree that "all the best arms of similar mass sound exactly the same" unless you define "the best" as those that sound the same! He was notorious for throwing records around during demonstrations, in part to show that scratches, pops and crackles were far less obvious with Linn products. He went to enormous lengths to minimise free play between the record and the stylus, for example by using the same grade of stainless steel so bearings and other components expanded and contracted at the same rate, and therefore could be adjusted to very tight tolerances. Propagation of unwanted impulses was suppressed, especially compared with popular arms such as those by SME, who did not make turntables at that time.
I am assuming the same cartridge in both arms, correctly aligned.
Anyone notice different amounts of surface noise with different arms?
Using the same cartridge, I just went from an SME 3012R to a Bokrand AB309 and while the Bokrand is no doubt a better sounding arm in my system, I’m definitely hearing more surface noise. Records are cleaned with a Degritter so it’s not dirt... but the arm picks up more of the noise from my older records.
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The name "tone-arm" says it all! If they are neutral, they would be called pick-up arms or similar. Come to think of it, I have not seen a waterfall graph published for ages - about the time magazines stopped publishing useful stuff like speaker impedance curves. |
I heard the same cartridge (Transfiguration Orpheus L) on the same table (Linn LP12) with two different arms (Naim ARO and Basis Vector 3). The Naim ARO was a livelier sounding arm, but, surface noise was a little bit more prominent. In this particular system, I preferred the Naim ARO. I cannot say that set up was perfect each time, but, a good protractor, digital scale and Fozgometer azimuth tool was employed, so setup was pretty accurate. |
Thanks @larryi. I've been playing with setup a bit today and it's definitely making a difference. I have been using a fixed SPU headshell with an Ortofon SL-15, which technically should be dead on with the Bokrand (the pivot to spindle is confirmed correct) but there was some small differences using a DB Systems protractor. The adjustments are making things better but still hearing the arm difference... but this is making it easier to overlook. Always tradeoffs! |
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