Dear @uberwaltz: The TT's you ask for have many limitations and some of them are: some models accepts only plug-in cartridges, others work with cartridges inside a limited weigth range or compliance range, cartridge alignment/tonearm is dedicated you can't change it, in some you married with the tonearm where you can't change it's " flavor " as with removable headshell normal tonearms, audiophiles do not take very seriously those units, are unexpensive and does not "impress/impact " our friends when see it, etc, etc.
In the other side, as pivoted tonearm linear tracking tonearm has its own trade-offs ( does not exist the perfection in audio. ) no matters what.
I owned the Southern, Denessen and the ET and listened the Forsell, the Kuzma and the ones coming in the Rockport/Walker and Goldmund TTs. The ones listened in other systems I have to say very good megabuck systems.
Well, certainly performs a little different than good pivot tonearm designs and the main difference is a critical one: I never heard that its wuality low bass performance been with the rigthness that only can be achieved through a pivot tonearm designs. This is a crucial negative trade-off because bass range quality level performance affects all the system frequency range.
The quality level performance in any room/system depends first than all in that bass range management.
The Tales tonearm is a pivot design with almost no tracking distortions because tracks in linear way.
Btw, some one in this thread posted that the linear tracking tonearm performs with better soundstage and other audiophile sound characteristics adjectives than the pivoted ones but no one of those adjectives exist in the recording and certainly never in a live MUSIC at near field position where the recording microphones are " seated ", there are no facts.
You can go with the Tales.
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
