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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
ledoux1238 OP
280 posts
 
Two more updates:

1. Having added the 3" PVC pipe surge tank, the pressure provided by the as-supplied Sera pump had to be increased to maximum level. I decided to switch pump to a Enhiem 400. Pressure is at half full level, but operating with much lower noise. 

2. A new phono stage was acquired recently, Channel D Lino C 2.0. It is a transimpedence type stage, battery operated. It accepts XLR input only, and required cabling to be twisted, shielded, and balanced. I asked Andrey to supply a new wire with XLR input. ( And waited three months for them to arrive from Moscow. )  As the wire for the Terminator is essentially bare with no shielding, it apparently does not allow the proprietary recharging mechanism of the Lino C to be triggered. For a few months now, I had to manually un-plug the cable after each listening session in order for the battery charger to kick in. 

A fellow audiophile came over this past weekend and provided a simple diagnosis to the problem. Using a single strain of Cardas 33 awg copper wire, and twisting it over the exposed tonearm cable provided the necessary shielding !!! Now the phono stage is operating with its battery charging mechanism as intended. Twisted copper wire is the shielding solution just in case Terminator users are having problems connecting to devices that required a battery charging trigger. 

BTW, Channel D Lino C 2.0 is a great phono stage with recent write up on TAS.
spiritofmusic
828 posts
 
Ledoux...adding additional smoothing tanks permits lowering of air pressure at the pump?
ledoux1238 OP
280 posts
 
@spiritofmusic The additional 3” dia x 30 cm smoothing tank required ‘increased’ pressure. The original pump was almost maxed out. I switched to a higher output Enhiem pump. 

An additional surge tank idea is no tank at all. Using long run of copper piping coiled like radiators would be a very effective air modulator. The stiffness of copper, or PVC in the case of the smoothing tank, is the key, as was mentioned by @dgarretson
spiritofmusic
828 posts
 
I'm confused by this. Vic formally warns against using higher flow pumps. 180-250 litres/hour is his recommendation. So if using extra tanks necessitates more pressure/higher flow, isn't this contradictory?
ledoux1238 OP
280 posts
 
The pump that came with the Trans Fi was a Sera Air 275 R plus with output of 4.5 liters / min, or 270 liters / hr. I am assuming that 270 l / hr is max output. Until the smoothing tank was added, the vol dial on the Sera was at 50%, even with the 20 litre and 25 litre surge tanks in the loop. That means It had been operating at 270 / 2 = 135 liters / hr. However, with the PVC smoothing tank in place, I literally had to turn the pump to max, or at 270 liters / hr, and the arm still was a bit unstable, skipping / mistracking at times. That’s when I decided to increase the output, not knowing really Vic’ recommendation.

The Enhiem 400 output is 400 litre / hour. The volume dial is at 70%, so maybe 280 - 300 liters / hour. And yes, I am a bit over Vic’ recommended range. However, before this whole surge tank experiment the arm was running at 135 litres / hour, a bit less than Vic ‘s range.

I suspect that if I were to place a gauge at the arm, it probably is receiving an output within Vic’s range. But with all the air mudulators added to disrupt air flow, the pump has to work harder at the front end. 
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