Unipivot tone arms

My thinking is that Uni Pivot Arms addressed an issue with bearing manufacturing tolerances, materials, and quality control.  I think the bearing industry has caught up, and perhaps surpassed some of the Uni Pivot Arms out there (I have a couple of very vintage Mangepan arms, one installed on a vintage Realistic direct drive that has been converted to manual, from semi-auto. It is seldom used these past twenty years, newer equipment has taken over the dedicated mono role.)

Uni Pivots have a loyal following, and for that upper echelon TT and cartridge set-up, when set up properly, may remain unbeatable for awhile yet.

I have a VPI with a JMW 9 unipivot tonearm and a Koetsu Rosewood Signature mounted on it. It tracks and performs beautifully and I’ve never had any negative issues or concerns using it.

@dinov   I bought the original VPI Scout, same JMW 9 tonearm.  Unipivot works just fine.  I never liked the anti-skate feature using fishing line, feeling it had to be re-set too often.

I do think that some of the unipivots have fundamental issues, like chattering on the point, or some other instability. The Naim Aro is a good example of this.

I have ownd a Naim Aro for 25 ears along with a myriad of other arms. It is very stable due in part to the low centre of gravity ( below the pivot point ).

You either had a faulty arm or maybe it was your bouncy castle ( Linn ), though Martin Colloms used the Naim Aro on his Linn for many years and one of his key criteria in choosing the arm was its resistance to the problems of footfalls on his sprung wooden floor.

I helped with installing a Naim ARO on a Linn table.  The combination sounded good to me in the right system.  It was quite a lively sounding combination which sounded good in the somewhat dead system I hear it  playing.  Whether it would sound good in my more lively horn-based system is another matter.  Like any other component it matters how it works with other components and the sound one is trying to achieve.  But in the most gross terms for a tonearm/cartridge--whether it tracks properly, is not susceptible to troubles with warps, etc., the ARO performed well.