If you want to know why linear trackers are a bad idea just watch the cantilever closely while playing a record. The cantilever will deflect towards the spindle and eventually the tonearm follows, overshoots a little deflecting the cantilever away from the spindle than the whole process starts over again. What you have is an oscillating skating force. The sad fact of the matter is that the horizontal effective mass is way too high. The cartridge no longer has any leverage over the horizontal bearing. Even the Clearaudio arms do this. The right way to do this would be to read the groove lateral movement maybe optically right in front of the stylus and drive the tonearm across the record with a servo mechanism. We can get lasers to read tiny pits in plastic why not groove lateral velocity?
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.
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.
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- 219 posts total
- 219 posts total