New Transrotor TRA9 tonearm coming soon

I’m sure you did careful research before making your purchase. Can you say something about how you arrived at the decision, which is to ask what design elements or features appeal to you?

Yes, I did in fact deliberate on this decision for quite some time. Although I love the SME Vs and V12s, they lacked the ability to make azimuth adjustments. I could live with the set and forget form factor and design of the SMEs as they have simply became to me very easy to operate without much fuss. This made it a not so hectic task when installing cartridges on the SMEs and even mounting and dismounting the arms themselves.

But, I am also continuing my audio journey and would like to explore another arm that offers azimuth adjustment, “AND” has some function and familiarity with the SME Vs and above. The TRA 9 has these traits. I am starting to explore other more expensive cartridges and want to ensure that I capture the essence of these cartridges…not leave anything in the groove.

Why a Transrotor TRA 9 tonearm? Short story; when SME stopped selling tonearms to vendors or individuals, Transrotor had to come up with a solution to cover the tonearm gap that would occur when they sold turntables bundled with Transrotor/SME tonearms. It was quite the bargain. Transrotor was already working on their own tonearm before they were no longer able to obtain SME arms anymore.

Back to adding more to other reasons I opted for this particular tonearm. The TRA9 besides offering four different finishes (I ordered gold finish) also has adjustable VTA on the fly. Not that I ever thought that that was a “I have to have it thing”, it’s just part of the arm, along with this “The first thing that catches the eye is the two-piece arm-tube composed of sleeves of different aluminum alloys, which is supposed to be virtually resonance-free. Not to forget the stable bearing bell, milled from a solid block, which sits on a gimbal-mounted frame that moves in three highly precise, exactly adjusted steel and ceramic ball bearings.”

It also has some type of magnetic antiskating mechanism. Overall, it has the DNA of an SME V, but also has features that add more functionality. Whether that functionality is a distraction or hindrance to my experiences, will be determined once I start interacting with the new tonearm. It weighs 18grams.

Finally, I like the looks, and that it includes various weights to suit a wide variety of cartridge making it an easy pick for me as I increase my cartridge inventory. I was frazzled trying to pick the next arm, my inclination was to go for an AMG tonearm because I believed it met most of the criteria I was looking for. However, Transrotor being the new tonearm kid on the block, and with their vast experiences in building absolute quiet turntables, leads me to believe this new TRA9 tonearm will be quite a contender compared to other higher priced arms with similar functions.

I think that you will find VTA on the fly more valuable the azimuth trim  which is easily accomplished with a cartridge enabler.

TRA9

@audioquest4life , THAT is a really nice arm! I love the tonearm lock on the rest. I hate tonearms floating around while I'm trying to work on them. It is neutral balance and the vertical bearing is down low where it should be. It has frictionless antiskating and all the right adjustments. If I were on the market for an arm it would definitely be on my list.