Trans-fi Terminator T3PRO opinions please...


I am starting to think of trying a T3PRO tonearm, and would appreciate comments from you who encountered it. I am really happy with my current analog setup, but have never tried a linear tonearm...some of my concerns are the noise the pump potentially makes - what type of pump do you use in USA (Vic can only supply 220V) and is the tonearm tricky to setup and maintain in 'perfect setup'? Is it very 'tweaky' (I do like tweaking to a certain extent)? Do you think the VTA digital display is worthwhile? Which cable option did you opt for (I am thinking the cart-RCA silver wiring)?

If you own it - which tonearms have you compared it to?

Any special setup/tweak advise with regards to this tonearm?

Many thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts on T3PRO and have a GREAT one!
go4vinyl
Tms, and others, how have you achieved perfect level for the T3Pro? I use Vic's Salvation, and like many tt's the Salvation has 3 adjustable feet. I've always struggled w/getting ALL three feet on the tt to be equally level - whenever I get two feet correct, the third goes out of level.
I've settled on getting the zone that the arm tracks down the platter (ie the limited line the cart tracks down the platter) being precisely level, even if this means some other zones on the platter/feet may be a little out.
Hello Spirit.

The thing is to get the arm absolutely parallel to the surface of the platter. Of course, it helps if your turntable platter does not wobble on its bearing!

To this end, I had an aluminum plinth and tonearm tower made up at a precision machine shop. The plinth has two perfectly parallel machined surfaces, one for the turntable bearing, the other for the tonearm tower. The aluminum tower itself has perfectly square ends. This makes it easy.

First, I level the top of the platter using three adjustable feet. I really take my time on that. I think that I'll follow TMS's advice and use a Starrett in the future - I should have thought of that myself.

Then I power up the air and place the wand carrier, without wand or cartridge, in the centre of the arm, so that it can drift either to the left or right. I adjust the levelling screws until the wand carrier does not move. Then, because the platter bearing and tonearm tower mate to precisely parallel surfaces, the platter and tonearm are parallel by elementary plane geometry.

Et viola. Music.
Spirit, now that I read my response I realize that the last sentence is misleading. True, but still misleading.

The point is that the platter is perpendicular to gravity, and so is the tonearm, by measurement, not theorem. Everything being precision machined and so forth just makes it easier to go from the theoretical optimum to the measured optimum.
That's ok Terry. I think that my maintaining perfect levelness of the arm over the zone that the cart tracks (easy with a linear arm, it's in effect a horizontal sweep across the platter) should be sufficient.
Good thing too, since for the life of me I struggle to get every part of the tt/arm/platter equally level (function of always 1 of the 3 feet going out of adjustment just when 2 get into true).
Will look at that specialist spirit level mentioned earlier in the thread.
But I want to reiterate that beyond the levelness issue, and the need to have an unimpeded air supply to the arm, and deal w.pump noise, this arm is in many ways a lot easier re adjustments/everyday use wrt pivoted arms, and I still contend I'd take it over examples at 3-5x the price.
A little late to the party here but nevertheless ready to chime in. First of all, hello tms. Hope you got the speakers pumping.
Now, I'm a good reference because I had never set up a turntable and picked this on tms' suggestion. As above, yes Vic is an absolutely reliable resource. If I had a problem he promptly engaged me with possible solutions.
The nice thing about the setup is that everything makes sense, and that becomes readily apparent. You will spend some time getting it level. Plenty of oil in the bearing casing. I use the lowest pressure possible until the arm mistracks, then add pressure until it moves along. I also placed the pump in another room, doesn't matter how long the run of tubing is.
I did quite a bit of research on the pros and cons of linear vs pivot. Most of the drawbacks concerning linear, high pressure, unstable with air vs fixed pivot and other possible complications Vic has answered with his design. I'm a linear guy though, even had a Rabco many moons ago. It just makes too much sense. The way Vic's air bearing is designed is in my mind a bit of simple genius.
All the above owners were helpful. Now it's done.