The Palladian-A step beyond

With some companies the name of the game is, 'whatever the market will bear'

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I think with some cartridges the game may be even more sinister?
There is a wealthy cabal of audiophiles worldwide, for whom the exclusivity that comes with 'high-cost'allows them to imagine that the 'pissants' can never hear that rarefied quality....
The higher the cost of a cartridge.....the smaller this select group becomes and you can see them on self-congratulatory Audio Forums (which shall remain nameless).
I think Acoustical Systems may have erred in making the Palladian almost TOO affordable....for this group already dabble in cartridges costing $12,000 - $18,000.
Had the Palladian been the first to cross the magic $20,000 barrier.....it would have already caused a stir and been seen as the next 'step forward'.
I hope I'm wrong.....🙈

Dear Raul,  According to every treatise I have ever read about the Tiptoes, the originals made of solid aluminum, they were not intended to be anti-resonance devices.  They were/are meant to drain energy, but in one direction only.  In other words, they are diodic in nature.  If carefully placed at vibrational nodes on a shelf surface, they are supposed to transfer vibrational energy FROM the component INTO the shelf, but not vice-versa, ideally because the shelf is inert at the point contacted by the tip of the tiptoe.  This has nothing to do with damping; it's all about dissipating energy.  Using a stethoscope to survey the surface of a shelf, so as to locate the inert points on the shelf surface, I have observed this effect personally.  If you don't take care to place the tiptoes correctly at vibrational nodes, then they lose their diodic property; energy can go in either direction, into and out from the shelf, and they are no different from raising your gear on alu blocks.  The very best "tiptoe"-like device I ever owned were/are the Goldmund cones (no longer available).  They have a core of amorphous damping material that feels like putty and an outer body of some dense metal. I still use them whenever and wherever it makes sense.  One of the few tweaks I can actually "hear".

Were it not for the fact that I own and use an FR64S, I might take your critique very seriously, because "on paper" it makes sense.  What I wrote above is based on my actual experience using the tonearm, and my experience is in contradiction to the theory you posit.  Evidently, you had a different experience.  This could be due to a difference in cartridge or headshell or in the construction of the tonearm mount.  As noted, I am using it with an Acutex MI type cartridge; perhaps non-MC cartridges impart less energy into the headshell than do MC types.  I am not using the FR headshell; I am using a lightweight aluminum headshell.  Also, Halcro is using a carbon fiber headshell.  For sure, this would make a drastic difference in the transmission of energy into the arm wand, compared to the clunky FR headshell and some others as well.  

Dear @halcro : """ Cobra...undamped in traditional sense. """

Ignorance again. One of damping paths is the tonearm build materials choosed and the Cobra use very self well damped build material ( similar to the VPI 3d. ). Did you heard about arm pipe tapered tonearm design and the why’s of it?: tonearm shape is other paths of damping as appears in the Cobra one.

In the other side your comment on @jcarr works :

"" Despite the obvious knowledge of Jonathan Carr.....his Lyra cartridges are amongst the poorest I have heard in my system....""""

reflect only what you like: SOUND REPRODUCTION WITH HIGH DISTORTIONS, AS HIGHER THE BETTER.

Everywhere in your system tell us and your post after posts confirm it.

Why follow spreading that kind of ignorance level of what must be MUSIC enjoyment???

No one I respect and know as a true music lover and true audiophile spreaded that kind of comments on those great Lyra cartridge designs or puts in doubt the @jcarr professional and very high knowledge levels and skills on cartridge design or almost any other audio subject he has and made that comment only in favor to tell here that you are rigth when you always are wrong on those regards!!!!!!

Obviously that you did not think in that your " comment " on Lyra cartridges affects in no single way the credibility of JC but yours , that now is exactly where it belongs: AT CERO

Please do it a favor and think not only in what you posted in this thread but what you post/spread everywhere. Where are the benefits for any one on  it?


Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Dear Raul, I have to laugh every time I read one of your posts that cordially begins with "Dear" so-and-so and cordially ends with "Regards and enjoy the music", yet in between the salutations, we find only vitriol.  It would be OK to agree that we don't all agree on every topic and that failure to agree does not indicate that the other person has a fatal character flaw, which in this case seems to be love of "distortions".  I don't know about you, but I am saving my anger for politics. This stuff just does not amount to a hill of beans.  Relax and REALLY enjoy the music.