looking at upgrading my tonearm from a triplanar

Tim Paravicini chose the Helius Omega for his EAR table. I'm guessing it's pretty good!

Had Triplaner TW 10.5 is much better.

Ralph, your mention of the hardness of the bearings in the Triplanar brings to mind a couple of questions for me. Could you give us your design engineer's perspective on the following?

- What is the significance of the hardness of a tonearm's bearings? At the tonearm weights involved, that alone wouldn't seem to be important.

- On the other hand, beside the bearing design itself, two bearing characteristics would seem, at least conceptually, to matter a great deal:

1- The bearing's ability to transfer mechanical energy out of the arm tube and into the mass of the turntable
2- The smoothness of the surface of the bearing material, for lowest friction.

another contender under $10k to seriously consider is the Durand Kairos; which has the composite arm wand.

if you want to upgrade from the Talea MkII it would be a nice step up while retaining that same sonic perspective.

- What is the significance of the hardness of a tonearm's bearings? At the tonearm weights involved, that alone wouldn't seem to be important.

The hardness is important- the more the bearing has the less sticktion. The size is also important- the smaller the bearing the less sticktion. Jeweled bearings (which are very hard) are unfortunately also very easy to damage and often don't survive adjustment at the factory, which is why they are usually adjusted with a little slop. If you over-tighten them they are damaged instantly. So a hard metal bearing is essential for longevity in the field. It is the failure of arm bearings that is why the arm may need to be readjusted over time.

- On the other hand, beside the bearing design itself, two bearing characteristics would seem, at least conceptually, to matter a great deal:

1- The bearing's ability to transfer mechanical energy out of the arm tube and into the mass of the turntable
2- The smoothness of the surface of the bearing material, for lowest friction.

The bearing ideally should not have to transfer any mechanical energy. If it does, this means that the arm and cartridge are mismatched (effective mass is incorrect). What the bearing should be doing is allowing the arm tube to move with the position of the stylus but otherwise simply keeping the cartridge in proper locus so that the stylus' set of angles with respect to the groove of the LP is maintained. The bearings IOW serve no damping properties whatsoever: this would run counter to their mission.