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Tonearm mount on the plinth or on Pillar ?

Folks,
I am looking to buy a custom built turntable from Torqueo Audio (http://www.torqueo-audio.it/). They have two models, one with a wide base plinth where the tonearm would be mounted on the plinth (as usual) and the second is a compact plinth where they provide a seperate tonearm pillar to mount the tonearm. According to them the separate tonearm pillar version sounds more transparent and quieter because of the isolation of the tonearm from the TT. My concern is whether seperating the tonearm from the plinth would result in a lesser coherence in sound ? Isnt sharing the same platform results in a more well-timed, coherent presentation ? Any opinions ?
pani
moonglum
619 posts
 

Turntable designers are incompetent. If only they could design something as efficient as this.....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqAUmgE3WyM

lewm
13,006 posts
 
Moonglum, It's the tonearm bearing that must be firmly coupled to the turntable bearing. Yes, some tonearm bearings have more or less "play" with respect to the arm wand/headshell/cartridge, but at least there should be no wiggle room between the tonearm mount which embraces its pivot and the platter bearing.  Pardon me if I misquoted you, but is there a real difference between resonating "differently" vs "separately"?  Anyway, my opinions on this issue are well known; no point repeating myself.  Others can think differently, and I am sure that the earth will remain in orbit regardless.
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
In a typical cutting lathe is the cutting arm mounted on the same plinth as the platter or is it on a platform ?
moonglum
619 posts
 

Glad no one took my last comment about T/T designers seriously ;^)

I was joking of course. I actually have the highest respect for what they're trying to do. It's an unenviable task and by doing it they're only going to please some of the people some of the time.


No problem, Lew. I agree the Earth isn't going to disintegrate due to the nuances of definition of 2 words. Since you did ask, "separately", to me, means without touching while "differently" means they can be touching. That's all.

Yeah, the main causes of wiggle room that I can see are the main bearing and tonearm bearing/s unless you're referring to flexure in the chassis & armboard(?)

But the point I was making is that it's the overlapping contact area of those bearings that would determine how effectively the 2 are locked together i.e. from a damping perspective. Since you are relying mainly on those bearings to commute/handle vibration it can never be an effective way to damp the tonearm. By nature, the bearings must try to be as zero contact as possible rather than act like a 6" nail through 2 pieces of wood.

Seems to me it's a classic "Catch 22" situation?

moonglum
619 posts
 
....I should qualify the above statement, "never an effective way", that is unless you pour silicone damping fluid into your tonearm bearing as I do in which case you have a "mildly effective" option ;^)
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