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Linear tracking turntables, whatever happened?

Curious as to the demise and downfall of the seemingly short lived linear tracking TT.
Just from a geometry point of view I would have thought a linear arm should be superior to one with a fixed pivot that sweeps through an arc.
Obviously there is much more to it than that, sort of the reason for this thread.
I am genuinely interested in trying one out for myself as well.
128x128uberwaltz
slaw's avatar
slaw
21,780 posts
 
@ct0517 ,

Regarding your post above...that the ET user should set the record height level with the inscribed line in the center of the manifold.....although I’ve owned mine for 30 years, and I set mine up (eyed) for the record height to be in the center of the spindle (looking straight into the spindle), I never remember reading in the manual any indication of that "inscribed line", therefore, I never noticed it. I just uncovered mine just to check and it is correct. (These types of things would be great to read in the manual.) I think it could use a re-write.

Thanks for that post.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 

Hey slaw, I guess you have your ET on a VPI, not your Townshend Audio Rock 7, ay? ;-) What arm is on your Rock? My Rock Elite (Mk.2) was made with it’s damping trough having an arc diameter appropriate for the shorter-than-usual Townshend Excalibur arm. The Zeta I use with my Rock is very close to the Excalibur in that regard (pivot-to-stylus distance), but has much better bearings (and a great stiff arm tube).

The Helius Omega arm has found favour amongst UK owners of the Rock 7. The Silver/Ruby version is especially nice, but at a not-so-nice price ;-) . Townshend Audio and Helius just happen to share the same U.S.A. distributor. Tim de Paravicini also recommends the Omega for use on his EAR Disc Master turntable, the table Audiogon member folkfreak owns (I saw and heard it in his music room last year), though he uses different arms (two) on his.

terraplane8bob's avatar
terraplane8bob
70 posts
 
An interesting story [possibly apocryphal] about Jack Rabinow, the inventor of the Rabco Linear Tracking Tonearm : While traveling on a train, Jack went to use the restroom and was intrigued by the sign, "Please Do Not Flush While in Station",  and when he returned to his seat he began figuring out a way to disable the flushing function of the toilet when the train was standing still.  He took some wire coat hangers and twisted them into a device that did exactly that !  I guess that kind of thinking was the same that went into the original Rabco tonearm !  I owned one for a few years and even tweaked it with a balsa wood replacement tonearm but never was happy with its clunky performance.  A Revox b795 and a Technics SL-10 were next in line and both were good TTs, but it wasn't until I mated a Souther Linear Tracker to my Garrard 301 TT that I finally realized my "Audio Nirvana". A Lyra "Helikon" cartridge is supremely happy with the arrangement. On very rare occasion the "tonearm/trolley" that holds the cartridge and runs along two parallel quartz rods will hang up and require the rods to be swabbed with alcohol to correct the problem.  I see no other TTs in my future --------- .
slaw's avatar
slaw
21,780 posts
 
@bdp24 ,

The ET was on a VPI, will be on my TT project at some point. I'm using a Funk Firm FXR on the Rock 7 The FF arm has X bracing in the arm tube, making it very stiff. Has Max ever released his latest arm?
whart's avatar
whart
3,050 posts
 
This has been a pretty informative thread~
For another story, I knew a guy back in Pittsburgh, where I grew up, who mounted a Vestigal arm (remember those, with the wagging headshell attached to a string which tensioned it?) to a Rabco. In theory, I guess it made sense.* In practice, I don’t remember. This was back in the mid-’70s.
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*Or maybe not, given the discussion of vertical inertia here- I don't have the physics knowledge to assess this meaningfully. 
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