Trans-Fi Terminator Tonearm: 2019 Update

@pindac Thanks for the reply.

I had an accessary sent from Russia to me in 2022 and it took two months through its postal service. With the War on, I did not expect a reply from Andrey. 

Anyone has an unused carbon fiber wand for sale ?

Is there not a shut down in the operations of dealing with the postal system within Russia at present, where post is not being sent in, when received by Western Countries Postal Services and not being sent on ti Western Addresses when received by a Western Country Postal Service.

Sanctions I believe are in work.

My own plan to receive a service from a Russian National have been on hold for over a year.

I wondered if any Terminator owners have been in contact with Andrey in Moscow? He is not returning emails.

I would like to order a few carbon wands.

Thanks!

I'd like to relate two recent experiences/queries with the Terminator:

The first has to do with cartridge compatibility.I had been using an Audio Tekne MC-6310 for the past year. It is not a well known cartridge, but sells in the $5000 range. The cartridge never quite worked. There are resonance issues especially on piano music. And  the stereo balance is somehow off. In anycase, I acquired a ZYX Ultimate Omega last month, also in the $5000 range. But the Ultimate Omega is behaving completely in sync with the arm. The soundstage is completely all-enveloping. Music just sounds right with this arm/cartridge combo. Both cartridges weigh in the 8-9g region. However, The Audio Tekne is low compliance ( I do not have figures ) while the Ultimate Omega is middle compliance. 

It would seem that the carbon fiber wand is too light and is not happy with low compliance cartridges. Am I alone in this experience? Terry has developed a heavy wand for his Koetsu Rosewood Sig. Platinum. I had thought that was an issue with the weight of the cartridge and not so much a compliance issue. In anycase, I am wondering how are you dealing with low compliance cartridges with the Terminator?

 

The second experience concerns the surge tank / air filtration experiments that continues to intrigue me. I have added a total of 150 litre of surge tanks. There are two stainless steel cylindrical canners holding 50 litres, and the rest are plastic containers. I had assumed the best way to filter air was through these containers that trap and modulate air flow and that simply running long tubing would not do it. Well, I now that that is not the case. Running long tubing does in fact add to the modulation of air flow. I know there are folks  are placing their compressors remotely and running very long run of tubing to the arm.  And perhaps it is a case of longer is better in terms of air filtration.

Over the past month I had gotten back into refining the air regulation arena, partly inspired by Don @redcars and Terry. The additions of gauge and surge tanks have provided some numerical data points. I am able to make the following observations:

1. The starter kit:

The supplied Sera 220 pump and a 1 gallon surge tank should be considered the most basic kit that will allow the proper operation of the Terminator. The Sera 220 has a max pressure output of less than 1 psi and a 4 liter / min flow. The actual air pressure at the manifold is probably as low a 0.1 psi - 0.3 psi. 

The addition of surge tanks and air filters is I think fundamental in improving the performance of any air-bearing linear tracking tonearm. The terminator sounds very good with the starter kit, but it will only improve will better air filtration, modulation, and damping. The purpose is to minimize as much as possible the air pulsation produce by the compressor. The glider that carries the wand with the attached cartridge should operate in as close to a 'friction-less' bed of air cushion as possible.

2. The signature Kit

Taking the cue from Terry, I began last year to introduce more filtration in the form of additional plastic surge tanks. With the initial addition of a 20 liter tank, the improvement to sound quality was immediate. More detail, more stable sound-stage, ..etc. And then came an additional 20 liter tank as well as a 4" pipe capped at both ends acting as a air filter. The sound quality improved further.  With the last addition I had come to the limit of what the Sera 200 can pump out. 

The 'signature' kit consists of a compressor that can put out at least 3-5 psi. The usual suspect is a Hiblow hp 40, max 5 psi with 44 liter / min flow. I am using a Hiblow clone, Alita, with the same specification. I have a total volume of 80 liter worth of surge tanks. And the pressure out of the compressor is at 1.25 psi. Both Terry and Don have pressure levels at  0.3 - 0.7 psi. The reason for my high pressure level has to with the type of tubing and the total volume of surge tanks. 

It is possible to add more air filtration ( which I intend to do ), the limit being the output of the compressor.  How much sound improvement with the increase yield ? When is the point of diminishing return ? These question I do not have answers to. However, given that the Terminator operates in a low-pressure environment, I think it is possible to extract a bit more. If on the other hand we use a Air-Tangent of Kuzma Airline where the operating pressure is around 35 psi, then the use of even more powerful compressors may be prohibitive for domestic use. I believe this is one of the main advantage of a low pressure air bearing LT arm. It is more accommodating to air modulation. And in LT arm,  increased air filtration is really one of the important factors in maximizing its sound quality. 

In the most recent Analog Corner segment in Stereophile, there is a reprint of Framer's 2019 review of a linear tracking pivot arm, Klaudio's KD-ARM-AG12. He commented with respect to this arm that "the tangential possession is misguided". I am of the opinion that there is not  necessary a clear advantage of linear tracking vs pivot arm. And  the Terminator is always thought of by me as a highly musical, utterly under-valued and under-appreciated arm that happens to be tangential tracking. Given what it is, then maximizing its air filtration potential should really be on every Terminator users' to-do list.

Marc,
Thanks for that input. And Andrey is carrying on the mantle, so hitting a thousand should be a matter of time. 

I believe its 750 Terminators.

Terry,

Congrats on the success of the Panzerholz wand. It looks like your are getting very comfortable with it. 

FYI, the link below shows a pre-Tomahawk wand carrying an Ortofon SPU :  https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=1539.0. 

I recall reading that there are maybe a thousand Terminators in circulation. The figure seems high to me. I think there are less than fifty Air-tangents in the world. 

Pz wand continues to impress. A record which was having tracking/distortion issues with the Tomahawk (Renaissance Lute music on BASF label) is now just plain good listening. Five hours yesterday.

Over the past week, I followed old threads on the Terminator from the forum Lenco Heaven. Apparently there were quite a few early adopters of the arm circa 2009, pre - Tomahawk days. I’d like to share a few interesting notes:

1. Vic designed a custom wand for the SPU during the early days. This is a 30g cartridge, mind you. While it was not plug-n-play, the written, Daiwok, eventually got it to sing. That’s 30g !

2. There was a summary of the pressure levels required for the various linear trackers, e.g. The Rockport and the Kuzma operate in the 35 psi region, ET-2s’ around 5 psi, and The Terminator, MG -1, and other low pressure arms, less than 1 psi . This correlates with the actual useages of Don and Terry. Having received my 0-3 psi gauge, I am operating in the 0.5 psi range. 

3. Additional Surge tanks and air filtration are required to get the best out of the Terminator. And this does not mean just running long hoses. What is required are devices to modulate, damp, and minimize the air pulsation of the compressor.

4. Daiwok had done extensive comparisons between the Terminator and other top grade arms. At one point he had a Rockport ( not sure which model ) in his listening den. And according to him, putting the Terminator/ Lenco PTP in the ring did not produce a Rockport knockout. 

The above observations were from 2009 - 2010. Here we are at 2021. Don is the most recent adopter of the Terminator with positive results. I know this has been said before, but the Terminator has to be one of the audio gems with a bargain  basement price to boot!

Don,

I did pay attention to the gauge you employed, 0-3 psi. Unfortunately, for us in the metric universe, the smallest gauge I was able to obtain is 1 kg /cm2 or 14 psi. I have a 0-3 psi and 0-5 psi gauge on order. The reading I am getting obviously is not well calibrated, in the 0.75 psi region. I took a pressure reading at the tonearm end, and the gauge barely moved, so I am guessing in the 0.1 psi region. 

With the gauge, I can begin to answer the question posed during an earlier post on the relationship between increased pressure and surge tanks. The simple answer is that the Terminator operates at around 0.1 - 0.5 ( ? ) psi taken at the tonearm end regardless of  the amount of output pressure at the compressor end. Once the 0-3 psi gauge arrives, I’ll be able to be more precise.

Hi Albert,
Thanks for your nice words.

Did I mention that my regulator is designed for 0-2 psi, and the gage for 0-3 psi.  I think that it is important that these items work accurately under 1 psi.

No problem with the CF wand and the GFS.  And Andrey told me that the Ortofon Anna worked well.  I did have to take one of the extra brass weights and attach it to the top of the counterweight with double-stick tape.

Best,
Don

Don,

Buying a second Terminator certainly is a resounding endorsement!

We all  have come to the Terminator from other branded, more expensive, highly touted...etc. arms. For one reason or another bought the Terminator as a cost effective way to experience the linear tracking tonearm ( for me ) or to experience other cartridges ( for you ). The thinking was that if the Terminator did not work out, it was no real loss. And if it did, it would be a stepping stone to other, 'higher level', arms. What is unexpected is just how revealing an instrument the Terminator really is. And now you are buying more while I continue to improve on what I have.

Partly inspired by your incredible back-of-the-house heroics with custom valves, gauges, ..etc and my continued issues with my new cartridge, I started to replace compressors, add surge tanks, and insert measuring gauge to be more precise with setup. I will have more to share in the coming days.

Questions for you, the GFS is 15g. Are there any special weights and/or counter-weights added? The CF wand is working okay? Any problems with the heavy cartridge?

Hi guys,

I promised to report on the sound I am getting with my new Terminator from Andrey ( https://www.musicfromvinyl.shop/ ).

I have a large record collection of mostly classical records and opera. A lot of vocal, choral and chamber music. And a lot of recordings of pipe organs.

You may remember that before the Terminator I had two Clearaudio TT2 arms. Before those I had the predecessor TQI. Twenty years of Clearaudio happiness. The TT2 concept is also used in the TT1 MI in the Clearaudio Statement turntable.

I have a Clearaudio DaVinci and a Goldfinger Statement (GFS) cartridge.

I bought the Terminator to play other cartridges, and because I like mechanical things and wanted an affordable air bearing arm. I started with the DaVinci because my intention is to replace the DaVinci with another cartridge, perhaps a Miyajima mono cartridge.

The DaVinci sounded so good in the Terminator that I swapped in the GFS. WOW!

The largest improvements have been the sense of soundstage and space around voices and instruments and the quiet background. I thought the TT2 was very good, but the Terminator blows it away.

My room ( https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9362 ) was built for great sound and it has not disappointed. But the music never really filled the room. The horns are position sensitive and have a relatively small sweet spot. Now the room is alive and sounds good everywhere.

In comparison, it is 4D vs 3D.

Same turntable, same cartridge (GFS), same arm cable. A very impressive achievement, IMHO.

The “flow” of the music is more real, more lifelike; the musicians are in the room with you.

Bass is better and more lifelike. Everything is more clear and more precisely located in space. Choral music is uncanny. Are you getting the idea that I am thrilled?

I need to give credit to the rest of my system and the room, but it was the Terminator that turned the corner and brought out the best.

I am ordering a second Terminator arm. Both arms will mount on my turntable and rotate away from the platter to change records.

Best,
Don

'Unfortunately Owen passed away in a cycling accident a couple of weeks ago,..'

OMG !!!!! 

It was Owen's posts and his custom arm board for the Terminator that convinced me to take the plunge and adopted the arm. We exchanged emails a couple of times. He was always gracious in his reply.

What a strange day this has turned out to be with such a sad news. The fragility of life is all around us.

@ledoux1238

Yes there were quite a few ET2’s in the mid 80’s here.
There are a few Transfi Terminators - I think primarily because the entry level price was quite modest and accessible compared to the ET2 which is quite rare now.
Unfortunately Owen passed away in a cycling accident a couple of weeks ago, but his son is going to continue the administration of the blog site. He was a keen DIY audiophile and respected in the audio community here.

@dover It’s funny your mentioning high humidity in NZL. I had the impression, mistaken of course, that it was cold and dry down under  (  all those Lord of The Rings movies ). I just checked and relative humidity in the 70’s - 80’s, similar to where I am! 

BTW, I follow a NZL blog started by this guy, Owen, Dark Lantern, https://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/. He is an advocate for the Trans - Fi Terminator. Learnt a lot from the site. I get the sense that there are quite a few adopters of the Terminator over there. I would think the same for the ET arm?

@ledoux1238

Yes condensation can be an issue, I use a regulator/water extraction just prior to the entry point to the bearing. I live in a high humidity environment.

Don,

With the additonal surge tanks, valve, filters,...etc, I had assume that there would be a drop in pressure at the arm. But as you say, it's the sound that matters. I think someone, maybe Terry (?), commented that music sounds livlier at higher pressure. On my previous lighter cartridge, I could almost confirm that. 

It's interesting that you have arrived at the same pressue as Terry with the Panzererholz wand, given what I assume are two very different setups. There probably is a pressure range within which the Termintor is comfortable in.

With the ET arm, the range is ( according to Bruce on his web-site ) 3 - 10 psi depending on the pump used, it being a high pressure arm. It is ten times the pressure range that you are experiencing. And apparently at that range, condensation becomes an issue. Living in a very humid environment, I opt for a low flow / pressure arm to avoid the very real  potential for condensation. 

0.3 psi at the regulator sounded great tonight.  Arm pressure must be very close or the same as this.

Best,
Don

@ ledoux1238  
Pump > filter > bleed valve > regulator + gage > two 5 gallon tanks > 30 feet of 1/2 inch ID hose > 2 gallon tank > tonearm.  I don't have another gage at the tonearm.  Maybe I'll add one at some point. I can understand why you are asking, but the only purpose would be to compare tonearm readings with others.  With a regulator, it does not really matter.  It's whatever sounds best to you.

Best,
Don

Actually, the Pz wand prefers 0.3 psi.

Overkill? Overkill? What is this word? Sounds like blasphemy to me ...

Don,

The darker blue containers, seems like 20 litre, are surge tanks? There are two connected next to each other, and a third next to the turntable? 

You're getting a 6 psi reading out of the pump. Do you have a pressure gauge before the tonearm? I am particularly interested in what  the actual pressure reading at the tonearm. While I have a much more rudimentary pump / tank system, I am thinking of installing a gauge between all the surge tanks and the tonearm. The actual pressure to the tonearm should be much lower. If I am not mistaken, @terry9 has his arm set at 0.5 psi. J

Photos of air supply added (#40 - #43)

I know that it’s overkill, but it gives me lots of flexibility.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9362

The light blue cannister is an air filter. The carpeted item behind the filter is for quieting the pump noise.

New is a needle valve for a constant air bleed because the pump does not like being shut down from 5 psi to 0.5 psi.

The pump is in another room through an 11 inch thick wall.

Best,
Don

Hi Albert,
Thanks very much for your comments. 
Keep in mind that there are no air bearing arms on the market (AFAIK) that will allow a record ring weight to be regularly used.  This is what kept me away from these tonearms for years.  

Especially with short tonearms (the Clearaudio is 2 inches to the pivot; the Terminator is 3.5 inches) constant VTA is critical.  The ring weight solves the problem with warped records, and improves the sound.

The other significant factor is the ability to have multiple arms.

Best,
Don

Don, 

I think 99% of Terminator owners have taken a few inconvenience for granted, e.g. having to wiggle a record out from under the manifold. The swing out arm pod is brilliant! I would never have arrived at that solution. However, with your Clearaudio experience, lifting up and swinging out are bar for the course. My initial reaction was that there are just too many moving parts to my taste. But It seems to to be working fine for you.

My puzzle with VTF remains. I am dressing the wires exactly as you, under the wand and thread through and up at the pivot point. You, of course, have done away with the gantry and employing custom tubing to connect to the phono stage. While you are getting consistent readings, I still getting varying numbers each time I play records. I may make an attempt at your custom VTF garage. 

Please update on SQ as you see fit. And again congrats on a very well thought out setup!

Thanks for the update, Don. One gets so used to high quality playback with the Terminator that it’s useful to hear of a direct comparison against a very good arm.

Hi Albert, Terry, Marc, and others,

I am now busy listening to my new Terminator from Andrey.

I have posted pictures of the installation at https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9362 

See pics #31 to #40. (The last ten pics).

I think that you will find that this is a very different installation:

It allows for the arm to be pivoted away from the platter so that multiple tonearms and record ring weights may be used.

It has a different VTA readout that attaches to the arm board, rather than the tonearm.

The arm board is supported by a single ball bearing in the top of an (unused) Clearaudio turntable spindle.

It is locked in place by a one half turn plunger that locates on a rubber gasket so that no vibration is transmitted.

The arm mounting is adjustable in two directions rather than one, and is held down by two solid fasteners and can be adjusted with one hand.

The phono cable was robbed from my second Clearaudio TT2, and is as completely flexible as it looks.

The cueing device has been modified for use on the left rear corner of the turntable. There is also a stop added (not shown) for the beginning of play because of this more awkward location.

Picture #40 shows my modified VTF gage that I spoke about before. I get consistent readings that are identical both with and without the air supply running. The suspended scale prevents any side forces from affecting the reading.

The Clearaudio DaVinci cartridge, that was previously in a second TT2, is vastly improved by this tonearm (based on two evenings of listening). More on the sound when I have a bit more experience with it.

My air pump is similar to Terry9. More on that at another time.

I hope that these new approaches are helpful.

Best,

Don

Don,

It looks like a good month before we’ll get a report from you.  Looking forward to it.

@dover 
I emailed Vic regarding the new wand. It really is a trampoline! Adjustments of cartridge and counterweight are done by sliding ‘O’ rings. He developed this particular wand to deal with resonance together with a new isolation mat which I don’t see on his website.  The first things he said in his reply though was that I should stick with the CF wand if I am happy with it, no need to get the new wand. I too feel there is plenty of questions regarding on efficacy of the new wand.

@ ledoux1238

I recall you mentioning that your TT2 will only work with the Goldfinger, 15 g.    And in order to try other cartridges, you decided to try the Terminator. Did I remember correctly? If so, why is the TT2 so restrictive in its cartridge choices?

This is embarrassing. I thought that I had set my forum preferences to notify me when someone asked a question, but that has not happened, and I just stumbled on the thread again tonight. My apologies.

As far as the Clearaudio TT2 goes, it is a superb tonearm with any of the Clearaudio MC cartridges. Other cartridges, in general have problems to one degree or another. I have been advised by a knowledgeable dealer to get a Clearaudio pivoting arm for any other manufacturers’ cartridges. I am not an expert on this; just following what I think was good advice.

 Are you in in possession of the Terminator? Please report back. Thanks!

Yes, it arrived a week or so ago, and I have been building an armboard to allow it to be used with my other arm(s). I’m also still waiting for the air regulator which had a three week lead time. I want to make sure that it works as I expect before giving an update. If you have a specific question in the meantime, please send me a pm.

I will try again to adjust my preferences to follow this thread.

Best, Don

Yes, I think it's crazy to mount a cartridge on a trampoline.
You are trying to measure the groove accurately.
Imagine jumping up and down on a sprung bed and trying to meaure the height of a mark on the wall.

The only way it would sound better would be if his system is so flawed, that dumbing the resolution down to a molten mess is preferable to recovering what is in the grooves.

Interesting about the new wand. I don't think that it should work, because the cartridge is not rigidly connected to anything but the plate, which is suspended by O - rings from carbon bars.

I say should - but the final word is empirical evidence, that's just science. I trust Vic to be pretty careful in his experiments, so it's definitely something to take seriously.

That design could address the 'equivalent mass' issue in cartridge matching. Just need to change the plate to higher mass. But I'm still concerned about maintaining precise registration of stylus to record, especially tangentiality.

UPDATE ALERT!

it seems Vic has been a restless soul in retirement. He has posted a new wand that he claims to extract even more ‘details from the groove’. Frankly, I don’t know what to make of the new wand in light of recent discussions of compliance / weight. 

Go to Trans-Fi website, click tonearm, then tomahawk update.

@ledoux1238,

Well, I did try a bit more weight on the cart end, but I just settled on 12 since it was sounding good. Arriving at that weight was just a lot of trial and error, didn't happen overnight. I didn't think it would be a good idea to go too much higher, but never know, I'm always tweaking.

My thinking was more about a cart compliance problem than cart weight problem. It seemed to me that a stiff cantilever is going to need more mass or weight to trace the groove properly, more than a higher compliance or softer/springier cantilever. Before adding any weight, I increased the VTF and it seemed to help a smidge, so I figured the cart is not tracking like it should, needs weight, so that's what led me down that road.

But I wouldn't sweat adding weights. Besides, everything has a sound to it, it seems, aluminum, carbon fiber, even wood.

Pz is not really cost effective for the wand. Each one takes hours, would have to charge too much to be friendly.

Terry,

Thanks for the explanation, crystal clear.

As you can see, I am struggling with the CF wand and a 9ish g cartridge. Unless you start making your Panzerholz wand available for the masses, I am with @dnicol, getting by with adding weights. Sigh! 

@dnicol,
The timing of your post is uncanny. Prior to last week, I had been playing with a zyx ultimate 100, the entry level cartridge at 5 g - very enjoyable. More importantly it worked very well with the Terminator, I got to experiment with pump, surge tanks...etc without worrying about the compatibility issues, weight, compliance...etc. And it was pure luck. 
Last week, I installed a new cartridge, Audio Tekne MC-6310. There is no information on weight or compliance that I could find. I have not measured, but it’s probably 9-10g. I have set the counterweight as far back on the wand as possible using the supplied single copper disc, 5g. The MC is positioned as far out on the other end as possible, tracking at 1.8 g. I thought I had it with the first few days of listening. Then last night, playing a few records (  Bill Evans’ Tokyo and Paris concerts ), the sound became unlistenable, the piano was shrill, soundstage was off...etc. Not until reading your post did I know the problem. This morning I added weights as you described, but in the 5-7g range, not as heavy as where you ended up. And sure enough things began to turn for the better. Records I thought was good have now deeper soundstage, more transparency...etc, and ‘bad’ records are coming around. 
My question is how did you arrive at the 12g weight on the cartridge end? I know our cartridges are probably different, hence different compliance. I may not end up where you are. But wondering if you had gone over 12g and found it not to be optimal?

dnicol, I went much the same route. One way I added mass was to put a nickel silver disk (copper alloy: 770?) on top of the cartridge, and tap two holes for cartridge mounts (#3-56). The disk acted as a great big nut for the cartridge screws. But like my KRSP too much to switch.

ledoux, I will try to clarify. (1) start with a sheet of 19mm Panzerholz; (2) cut 7 blocks sized 25mm x 50mm; (3) glue the blocks together to obtain a bigger block 25mm x 50mm x 140mm. Note that the ’grain’ in the Pz block runs from side to side, so that vibration from the cartridge must pass through, not along, many layers of wood and many layers of resin, and consequently across hundreds of boundaries.

This block is then shaped into a wand, which further restricts resonance by changing dimensions: wider and thinner in front, narrower and thicker at the pivot. Obviously would have been easier to cut a 50mm x 140mm piece out of the Pz sheet, but vibration would have been conducted down the sheets of wood. Constrained layer damping works best when vibration has to cross boundaries.

Hope that helps.

About heavier carts, I had a hard time getting an ~10 gram cart to sound right, the other problem is it has very low compliance, about 10.

The only way I found was to just add mass. Didn't want to use the carbon wand at first since it was so light, which may not be a great match.

I started by adjusting the manifold away from spindle so I could mount the cartridge almost to the very end of the wand, keeping stylus in line with spindle. Then after much trial and error, adding ~12 grams on top of cart, (using a mix of stainless steel and brass) and then using ~22-24 grams of counterweights, (again mixing different materials), this worked very well for me. Moving the counter weights closer to the pivot points did not work well for me, contrary to popular opinion. My counter weights are all the way to the end. Adding weight to the cart end first, then figuring out how much counterweight is needed if placed at furthest point, worked best, this way I should be getting more effective mass/inertia as well.

I did try adding weight over the pivot points, but that did not seem to really buy me anything.

I believe that a very low compliance cartridge needs mass, and apparently the tomahawk is suited more for medium to higher compliance carts. Coupled with a heavier cartridge seems to make it tougher to dial in as well. It has been easier to get higher compliance carts, and lighter weight carts, to sing on this arm, for sure.

So using that method, now I'm using the carbon wand and it's fantastic.

Terry,

Allowing wood to naturally air dry for a long period of time is the best way for it to settle and stabilize. I know of a woodworker who uses an alternating kiln / air dry process for over a year to prep wood for flooring application. 

Just to clarify, you are using a 19mm, 3/4 in, wand that you have epoxied from thinner laminates, correct? From what I understand, Panzerholz is compressed beech ( or birch, or maple ) impregnated in resin. It’s an industrial process whereby the lamination process is as important as the wood. I’m wondering why you chose to use your own epoxy? Why not use ready made 19mm piece? I must be missing something.

in any case, Panzerholz is opening a whole new can of worms for me, following a WTF thread on the subject with great interest. It seems that the base of the Clearaudio Statement TT uses Panzerholz and steel lamination. Interestingly, Clearaudio describes it as ‘ bullet proof wood ‘!

Don, 

 Are you in in possession of the Terminator? Please report back. Thanks!

@dover  

25 cm - what's it for, the Bismarck? (Just being pedantic. Think you mean mm - that's the danger with the metric system, one makes order of magnitude errors).

I agree about stability, at least to some extent. But after aging my 19mm for a year, it didn't seem to shift at all. Not that I've measured it. After sealing, I should think it's as good as any wood laminate. 

For the record, I laminated 7 pieces for my wand, much the same solution as yours. It's made from 7 pieces of aged 19mm epoxied together so the wand is constructed from 150 or so wood/phenolic laminations front to back.

@terry9
@ledoux1238

I tried panzerholtz as an armboard material, but it is not dimensionally stable. I used 25cm thick stock - it was not flat. I had to cut, invert and laminate 2 pieces to get the armboard dead true.

With the carbon fiber wand I would have thought it would be worth having a vertical spine down the centre to minimmise any bending motion.

ledoux - on my Verdier I made armblocks from carbonised bamboo - its harder than maple and easy to work with. If I had kept my Verdier I would build a new plinth from german engineered quartz stone - 95% stone / 5% epoxy. I have had great success with this with Garrard Idlers. Its very inert, stable and sounds good. With my own Garrard 301 which I use as second TT, I used some leftover 40mm carbonised bamboo ply for the plinth - it was very good soundwise.

Ledoux, the difference between Baltic birch and Panzerholz is huge. I use both (when I can’t afford Panzerholz) like the sub enclosure for HT. The Panzerholz wand is very rigid; I wasn’t sure if it would need a 7075 aluminum lamination, but it doesn’t.

Good idea about fastening the Terminator at two points. I’ve found that really helps.

Given how successful the Panzerholz was, I suspect that I’m at the limit of the Terminator design, so I’m designing and building an arm with a fully captured air bearing at the pivot. Trick is going to be to make it as adjustable as the Terminator, which is perhaps T’s strongest suit. But doubt if I’ll have much to report for many months.

Terry,

The development of your Panzerholz wand is very informative, that it improves over the Tomahawk. The refinement of the Terminator carries on, first with the carbon fiber wand, and now equally (? ) the Panzerholz. I wonder if a laminate of  Panzerholz + CF might not be a further improvement, improving on the stiffness / rigidity of the wand.

Would you consider getting a CF wand and give us a review / impression?

As part of my purchase of the Terminator I asked Andrew to make a custom arm board to accommodate my Verdier TT. It consists of laminated layers of Baltic plywood with a top CF plate. It allows the Terminator to be fastened at two points.
It seems harder for us enthusiasts to work with carbon fiber, but I suspect Andrew would be amenable to producing a custom wand with CF / plywood combo. for heavier cartridges.

Well, I take all my reservations back. The Panzerholz wand is very fine indeed with the KRSP.

There is no obvious vertical or horizontal resonance from a test record. Maybe it's outside the range, but listening tests do not reveal that either. Not to say that it tracks everything perfectly. There are some problem records, but nothing tracks worse, and everything sounds better overall.

Considerably more detail, considerably less HF hash than the aluminum Tomahawk. Those who love CD's would be very disappointed - they would find it dead. What I hear is more smoothness, more delicacy. Dialect is especially revealing.

My tests have included solo voice, duets, trios, massed choir, small orchestra, large orchestra. Everything sounds better than the Tomahawk with the same cartridge. To my ears. YMMV

Actually, my KRSP is 12 g , not 9.

My lady bought the KRSP with diamond cantilever for an important birthday. My first Koetsu. Yep - luckiest man in the galaxy.

Don,

I recall you mentioning that your TT2 will only work with  the  Goldfinger, 15 g.     And in order to try other cartridges,  you decided to try the Terminator. Did I remember correctly? If so, why is the TT2 so restrictive in its cartridge choices?

If you look at a couple of earlier posts, @spiritofmusic mentioned that his mate is ( was ) using a 15 g Goldfinger with the Terminator. Terry's Rosewood Signature Platinum is 9 g. It would be nice for others to chime in regarding cartridges experiences.



 "...  but according to one of the K connoisseurs on this site, stone is a marginal improvement over the platinum rosewood, while diamond cantilever is a big improvement.'

Terry, I have read similar comments regarding the SQ improvement of the diamond cantilever. Did you send the Rosewood back to Japan for the upgrade? I understand that is the preferred path, acquire the Rosewood Sig. Platinum first, then go for diamond.  

Ledoux, the stone bodies are at the apex, but according to one of the K connoisseurs on this site, stone is a marginal improvement over the platinum rosewood, while diamond cantilever is a big improvement. He should know - he’s done a lot of auditioning and owns several stone bodies, including a d/c.

Don, thanks for the thought about CF arm. I associate CF with lightness and rigidity, but not mass and damping. Depends on the design, obviously, and equally obviously I should have tried that first.

 @ledoux1238, Thanks very much for your reply. The CA TT2 is as you describe it except that the wires are attached in one place to the tonearm carriage and from there to the shielded part of the cable which is anchored to the arm carrier. The wires are not threaded through the tube. In that respect it can be identical to the Terminator (or vice versa).

The TT2 also has varying VTF using any normal gage. The only significant difference I can see is the flexibility of the wires. I will wait until I get my Terminator installed before trying to explain the gage again.

On another subject, I asked Andrey about using the arm with a heavy cartridge like my Clearaudio GFS or the Ortofon MC Anna, both of which weigh about 16 grams.

He replied: “The tonearm works perfectly with Ortofon Anna at the setup of my bosom friend.”

Are users with the CF arm having issues with heavier cartridges. Which cartridges over 7 grams will work best; which cartridges have problems?  Any comments would be appreciated.

Don