Trans-Fi Terminator Tonearm: 2019 Update


In reading a few related posts on linear tracking tonearm, in general,  and Trans-Fi Terminator , in particular, I thought I would give a brief update of the Terminator.

I purchased the arm directly from Andrey in Moscow two months ago. From what I understand, Andrey has taken over production after Vic's retirement. What I received is the most up-to-date version of the arm with the carbon fibre wand and brass counterweights, the direct wire leads from cartridge to  phono amp, and a new brass manifold ( not evident from the main web-site). Both the wand and the new manifold are Andrey's contribution to the continued refinement of the Terminator.

Also,  please visit this site: https://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/terminator-tonearm-new-arm-mount/. This gentlemen from NZ has developed a new arm mount for the Terminator which advanced the arm's sonics even further. It was reading through the the development of this new arm mount that convinced me to order the Terminator after much prior research. I did not purchase the arm mount from NZ as it would not readily fit my Verdier La Platine, instead Andrey made a custom arm mount. It is in essence a two point support mount rather than a single point support rod that is commonly used. 

My previous arm was a SME V of 1990's vintage mounted with a ZYX airy. The Terminator is several notch above the SME V. All the accolades given to the Terminator seem justified. My main point in writing is that the new developments by Andrey, i.e. the carbon fibre wand and the newest brass manifold, seem to improve upon the Terminator even more ( see link above ). This is the news that I wanted to share with existing Terminator owners. I asked Andrey to start a blog on all the new stuff that is happening with the arm, but it seems that he is busy making 'things'!




ledoux1238
Mostly filled, but neither packed nor compressed, to within a few inches of the outlet. The direct line between inlet and outlet apertures must be interrupted by cotton balls.
I must apologize for my previous post regarding the size of the surge tanks used. I have a 1 gallon ( 4.4 Liter ) tank supplied with the tonearm. My recent addition was in fact a 25 liter ( not 5 liter as previously reported ) tank. The improvement in SQ was not subtle. Over the weekend I added an additional 20 liter tank in series. The improvement continued. 

I have been listening to a Wayne Shorter record, Adam's Apple, as a reference throughout this couple of weeks. It was recorded in 1966-67, the third album after Speak No Evil, and it contains the classic Shorter composition, Footprint. With each additional surge tank, the soundstage became more vivid,  Herbie Hancock's piano playing was more enveloped, more 3-dimensional. Jazz at the pawnshop, an album I have owned for decades finally came alive. The live venue in the background with broken glasses and shouting waiters, was recreated with increase micro-dynamics.

After two days of listening, I decided to add fillers in the surge tanks. While I did buy cotton balls, I actually used crumbled paper balls instead. I felt the crumbled paper balls are more irregular, thus better at disrupting air fluctuation and smoothing out the air flow.  What the added fillers did was to 'smoothed' out the sounstage even more , giving a more relaxed music presentation. On Shorter's Adam's Apple, Shorter's sax was always a bit forward. But with the addition of the filler balls, the sax blended more into the soundstage and the music emerged more from a single fabric. That's what I heard anyway.

I am going to leave it as is more now and enjoy the increased level of music playback. But I continued to be amazed by this humble tonearm, and this seemingly minor tweak yielding such enormous sonic benefit!
Thanks, Terry! Your surge tank foray was the inspiration.

I read recently a Terminator owner in Hong Kong who uses a 50 liter tank with a Hi Blow 20 series pump. And he uses a smaller, 5 liter, tank in series, before connecting to the tonearm. The total volume of his surge tanks is close to what I have, though I feel that breaking the tanks into smaller piece may help in smoothing out the air fluctuation more. 

As VTA / SRA adjustment can be done on the fly, I did a bit more study. I am finding that with almost all records, I am adjusting VTA within a 3.5 - 4 mm range. Given that the pivot to stylus length is approx. 85 mm, the height adjustments translate to a 2 - 2.5 degree angle difference. I am slowly getting a feel for the thickness of the records, and where the optimal VTA should fall for that perfectly dialed in sound. And no two record is dialed in with the same setting which means no two record is cut quite the same. I am of the opinion that there is no magic 92 degree rake angle that very cartridge should be tracking. 


@ledoux1238 

Very intriguing! I run a Terminator and also have a surge tank close to the arm, made from 4" PVC pipe capped at both ends.

Can you tell us what you used for your 20 and 25 liter tanks? Where you got them and how you made them?

And also the link to the Hong Kong guy?