Tonearms longer than 12 inches

I had a Helius Orion...the worst arm I ever had. Had to go back to England many times to readjust/refurbish the bearings....I’d never again buy from this manufacturer.  I didn't care what it sounded like...didn't have it that much.

Dear dgarretson: I owned that SME 3012 too and really like me, maybe because its big name SME. I own/owned the 1V/V too but I never did a comparisons against the 3012 because this one was sold.

In theory the 4Point by Kuzma is a very good tonearm and maybe your preference for the 3012 was/could be because the cartridge used on that comparison made it a better match with the SME and not because is 12".

HW, Helius and me were talking of comparisons made it with same cartridges with same manufacturer tonearm models: one 12"+ against same shorter tonearm model. This way exist only one diferent parameter under evaluation.

As I said opinions coming for other respectable Agoners like you always helps in any audio item dialogue.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Dear stringreen: I never had the opportunity to listen the today Helius tonearms and can't share nothing about other that even if those tonearms " are the worst " out there that Helius comparisons is valuable because the owner was listening the same ( good or bad ) where the only diference was the length of the tonearm and this is what we are talking about.

Now, if I remember the Orion is the vintage Helius one that has many not good owners histories like you.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.-

stringreen---I've heard that about the Helius arms of old. They are kind of the Jaguar of arms! Hopefully Helius has improved, as has Jaguar, the build quality and reliability of their current arms.

The way Jaguar got better is that they sold the company.   ...Tata