Tonearms: Ripoff?

How does one know which tonearm goes with which table?

This looks like a good combination: Kuzma reference and Wheaton Triplaner; plus koetsu cartridge.


    https://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/kuzma_stabi_e.html


    https://www.triplanar.com/


    https://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/the_tri-planar_tonearm/index.html


    https://www.upscaleaudio.com/collections/koetsu


Or maybe Lyra?



    https://www.signals.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Lyra-price-list-1.pdf


    http://lyraanalog.com/



Can anyone give any recommendations on this most exclusive shopping list?

edgewear - I've heard modified Denon 103s sound superb when properly loaded and on a matching tonearm.  It isn't a turd in my friends system.  Perla Audio has an engineer who does a fantastic job modifying the cartridge for a low price.  I've heard it and my friend purchased one (about $500).  What a bargain!

@madavid0when you wrote:

"The isn’t whether I want to spend a lot of money on high end tonearms or not, the issue is if they are a ripoff or not. Do they offer audio performance above cheaper ones? This is NOT hard to understand.

So far there is ONE poster who says he’s seen an improvement moving up from cheaper tonearms to more expensive ones. The others have all refused to address the question or admit that they think high end tonearms are a ripoff."

Can I just ask you the question - are all your opinions based upon making a jibe at what can be paraphrased as what you clearly think "more money than sense" audiophiles - or are you genuinely looking for guidance with a view to putting an arm on your TT.

You are asking questions on value - but that is utterly arbitrary. To person starving even £20 quid on a MM cartridge would be an extravagance. A Casio digital watch is as functional and accurate as a Patek Phillipe - likewise do you want food or a protein meal replacement shake. In other words what are your parameters? A Vertere or an SAT will be wasted on a Rega P2 lets' say. Put it on a OneDof or an AF1 and it makes sense. You don't put used Lada tyres on an F1 car - to some palpable and marginal gains may well be small - but to them it is value. 

In fact with all your posts I am curious as to what you have as your hifi system? Without wishing to insult those who own these products (I have owned them myself) but are you trying to compare a Rega P2 with an Exact Cartridge to an AF1 with a Lyra Atlas? 

You spend ages on the forums - as such do you actually listen to music, let alone your own music system?

definitely a Troll thread.  

OP doesn't understand law of diminishing returns, low volume artisanal products, or much else about the top end of analogue products.   

No one wants to answer the question. Most serious responses boil down to "expensive tonearms are a scam". For example @lohanimal post above in which he likens it to the difference between a Casio and Patek; the Patek keeps time no better than a Casio so therefore it’s a scam.

The others just simply dodge the question by repeating meaningless truisms about matching arms to the system. If, say, a FIdelity Research is a good match and so is a Triplanar U12 SE, would it be foolish to chose the Triplanar — because you’re paying a lot more for the same performance? If that’s so, isn’t the Triplanar just a scam in the final analysis? Some guy with a machine shop making huge margins on suckers?

A few responders DO say there is a performance improvement with higher end tonearms — but these are the clear minority in this thread.