Tonearm recommendation

ct...Oil? South.  For the time being, anyway.  The low prices @ the pump simply forestalls our being weaned from the stuff before it becomes rare.  HO:  It'll attain that just about the time the climate really gets everyone's attention, which is when it'll be too late to respond in our species' typically late and lame fashion.  But at that point you and I should be 'comfortably numb'...i.e., Dead...

"A poker game..."  *L*  Sometimes acts like a slamdance, opinions clashing like broadswords, ergo my Middle Ages ref.  As my ears have aged and don't respond to the extremes on nuance anymore, I've tempered my drive to new/newer/newest and resorted to what intrigues or amuses me.  My 'system' has become less 'hi-end', more 'test bed', constrained by budget.

I've been fortunate to have been exposed to things beyond my grasp, to at least experience and learn from that exposure.  I have my own opinions, some not so humble about it all.  I only 'air' them when either asked or at random 'knee-jerk' moments when the muse ice picks a tender spot...*S*

Mexico?  Sounds good to moi'.  GTF outta town, show up @ t'door. ;)  Worse that could happen is to sleep in the car...but you'd be warm. *G*

Leave the tone arm(s) @ home...unless you transport them in one of those alum cases with the foam inserts, like some exotic weaponry.  Which, considering the posts about and above us, gets kinda close...*smirk*

Cheers...

Dear don_c55: """ what you should know as basis for an arm decision.."""

Seems to me that your 6 premises to choose a tonearm are only your desire and that you want an user friendly tonearm, good.

I don’t see there that the tonearm has to be a good match for the cartridge or cartridges that own the customer that IMHO is critical for a tonearm choice.

What about those tonearms that are very well damped with out external oil damping? are they out to choice it? or the ones that has not fine tracking force with index mark, are out?

There are very good tonearms that are not so user friendly as you want but that are very good performers with wide good match for diferent cartridges, that has very good design and where that design were excecuted with really high quality.

Where do you leave the Kuzma 4P or the Reed P3? are automatic desqualified because are not 100% user friendly?

I can understand your post but I disagree with like chris ( btw, you can be always my guest, will be a pleasure to meet you here. ).

regards and enjoy the music,
R.

raul

I am discussing SOTA not merely good.

Index marks are IMO a must have aid.  It is possible, but harder, to land on the "tuned in sweet spot" without them. These sweet spots are very small, and hard to find. You can pass them by, if you are not careful, and not even know it.

A "good match" brings into the discussion "Magic" arms.

I prefer an engineering approach.

Thanks for the comments.

Don_c55
Ct0517 When you say lesser arms can sound better, were the both arms you heard set up properly?And how did you know that was in fact true?

Don_c55

I will give you a couple examples of what I meant. Firstly - Setups are temporary. An audiophile is not able to resist change. Ones setup is as good as the last change.
Its one thing to discuss what one would like to see in a tonearm, and in this thread Crazy Bill asked for input. In the real world we know one needs to give consideration to the sum of the parts.Each part plays a separate role and contributes to the the sum of the whole. For vinyl play - type of building floor suspended or not (this is a huge factor); Shelf design being used, table design (suspended or not), Tonearm, Cartridge, Wiring, Phono Stage and the Elephant in the room - the Record. At a high level.

Example One A good entry level table set up well with a basic cartridge, outperforms a more expensive table with VPI tonearm and more expensive cartridge. The owner is puzzled. Reading the tonearm manual he compensates with extra twists in the uni pivots wiring, but this makes the situation worse. He does not realize that his turntable has gone a little wonky - it is out of level. No amount of proper set up on that tonearm will fix this situation.

Another example. A 7/10 setup on a good pivot arm will produce decent results, and will out perform a 7/10 setup on a good air bearing linear tracker. You have a small amount of leeway with an airbearing linear arm. Go outside of that and it will sound like crap. IME , a 9/10 setup on an air bearing linear tracker versus 9/10 on a pivot arm is another story.

And how did you know that was in fact true?

I know the owners and the setups well.