TT, 12" Tonearm. Who tried and ended up preferring 12" arm?

Dear Mijo, You wrote, "Even a cheap modern turntable transfers very little energy to the surrounding environment. A good turntable with a good record hold down system that dampens the record with a stiff multi bearing arm set up correctly will transfer virtually nothing."
Where did I say that "turntables" transfer energy into the "environment"?  What I inferred was that cartridges are microphonic; they all give off some audible noises as they decode the musical signal.  Now it's my turn to be incredulous, if you say you've never heard such a phenomenon. But here is where I will confess to being guilty of a common audiophile sin:  To me, that sound energy coming directly from cartridges is obvious, and to me it has always been obvious that dust covers add a coloration that I do not like.  So, I put these two facts together and ascribed causality.  I hate when others do that, so I plead mea culpa for having done it in this case.  I've never proven that the coloration imparted by dust covers is per se due to cartridge microphony. Suffice to say that for me dust covers add a coloration that MIGHT be due to trapping the acoustic energy put out by a cartridge during play.  Thus I never ever use a dust cover.  I think you would find that most serious vinylistas don't use them either.  I wonder how many others on this thread use dust covers.


Elliott:  If someone can tell me how to post photos here, I will show you how I re-enforced and increased the mass of the Victor QL-10 plinth that came with my TT101. All done with aluminum custom fitted.

I’ve gone through too many tonearms to list, beginning with the old Garrard articulated arm, through Transcriptors, VPI, Unipivot and Graham. For a while, my vote went to the JMW Memorial 10.5-inch arm for its price, straightforward setup, ease of adjustment and use, but on my current turntable I went with an an Apparition 12-inch arm from Analog Instruments (New Zealand) and I'm not looking back.
First, assuming you’re doing the installation yourself, the geometry defined by the longer arm makes initial setup and adjustment much easier and slightly less critical. Second, the cocobolo wood arm tube does everything it’s supposed to do regarding vibration/resonance. Even with my midrange Shelter cartridge, the sound is pure and absolutely clean. Since my table was custom-designed and built, there is no plinth. Instead, a 70-pound solid brass pillar supports the tonearm; positioning is infinitely variable and, once set up, it’s virtually immoveable. The Apparition is a very simple pivot design that is not without caveats (the dimple in which the pivot sits is subject to wear and mis-placement), but what it lacks in sophistication it more than makes up for in ease of setup, use and quality.
In short, I'm a member of “the longer the better” club. I have no experience with air-bearing tangential arms but, given the choice (and with the room for placement), I would go with a 12- or even a 13-inch pivot arm over a 9- or 10-inch arm any day.

12-inch tonearm made of cocobolo must have very high effective mass. Fine for low compliance cartridges. Not so fine for high compliance ones. There is no single best length or best material for a tonearm.

I have to err on the side of Lewm regarding dustcovers.
I will be blunt and state I have no idea what causes the difference but playing with the dustcover in place and then with it off is akin to lifting a shroud on the music.
It sounds corny but it is more open and dynamic with dustcover off and this is from THREE separate tables.

I use the dustcovers for two reasons.
To keep dust off the tables when NOT in play.
To provide a nice resting place for my tired old cats who otherwise would sit on the darn platter I am sure! 

Everyone knows dustcovers down close in the sound. :-)  I found that out on my LP12 back in the 80s.

Metal lids do the same thing to tube preamps.