@lewm,
I have been an owner of a Pete Riggle Woody arm for about 2 years. It is the most convenient and easy to use arm I'm ever had and it sounds as good as anything I've heard at Axpona during the last 8 years. The arm has OTF adjusting of most everything except VTF. You can easily hear the changes as you adjust. Nothing needs a tool to get done--all easily turned small knobs. It looks very nice, too. I finally have my extreme Lenco project done and it now runs to perfection--dead quiet and the speed is rock solid with the strobe light and disc. The Lenco has more upgrades and mods than anything short of the Artisan Fidelity all out efforts. The addition of AF's copper platter on top of the Lenco platter and an on/off switch together with getting the motor spring orientation correct so the motor sits perpendicular to the chassis has made the Lenco a powerhouse of great sound. I use a Benz Micro Ruby 3 myrtlewood body w/ Soundsmith level 3 rebuild. I had a Whest 3.0 RDT SE phono pre, but am switching to a custom built and adjusted for the Benz Micro Ruby 3 phono pre--Audio Horizons TP 8.13. It is dynamic, lucid, with a hint of beauty to the sound. Joseph Chow is adding 6db of gain to the unit to bring it up to 67db.
The sound of these combined is way above anything I've ever had in my system--used to have a Maplenoll Ariadne for about 8 years. Finding it's equal in sound was a full time job and I was losing until now. The combo I'm now using is much more dynamic, with greater drive, pace, clarity, and no noticeable detrimental artifacts. I was running the Lenco with a Trans-Fi Terminator that was a step up from it's predecessor, the Origin Live Silver II arm. I'm back to enjoying the sound of my analog setup like when I had the 'Noll--except no air supply issues and even better, more involving sound.
Bob
