Top linear trackers

Most of my music listening is classical and unfortunately I prefer large scale symphonic pieces that of course tend to have crescendos right where you don’t want them in the inner grooves. Dave Chesky understood this well and wisely avoided the inner grooves. Maybe a handful of my LPs at most don’t portray at least a constricting effect, if not outright distortion, in the inner grooves, and that’s with a properly set up SME 312s. The degradation is subtle but it is there. If my digital rig weren’t so good and the rest of my system not as resolving, I wouldn’t be as concerned. Every review of a good LT I’ve read says that it’s a revelation to hear the ease of reproduction all the way to the end that’s not possible with the pivoted arms they’ve had. I’ve invested way too much in my analog rig to not give this a shot.

3 generally recognized null point variations

http://www.dvautier.com/nullpoint/null.htm


favor your inner grooves

Stevenson reduces distortion by favoring the inner groves which may be more compact and more in need of good alignment.

I’m not about to claim that all linear trackers are better than any and all pivoting arms.  That would be silly.  What I can say is that compared to the well set up pivoting arms that I have used over the years, Sumiko MMT, Grado, Sumiko MDC800, Alphason, SME IV and SME V, going to my still current ET2 linear tracker was a revelation.  According to what are my sonic priorities, no contest.  Especially on large scale orchestral recordings; and, yes, superior performance in the inner grooves.  Highly recommended and good luck.

Millercarbon, maybe your ecstatic mood is induced by your various PHTs placed strategically here and there.

I have not made direct long term comparisons between the Airline and a conventional arm on my set-up due to the inability to get the Minus K to balance correctly with the additional weight (30 lbs) of a second arm pod and the requirement of a single center of mass to get the Minus K to "float" as it should. My judgment of sonics attributable to the linear arm (which I did not comment on above) may also be influenced by the fact that I went from a very good self-isolating table (the Kuzma Reference) to a very high mass table with no suspension (the XL). That said, what I hear is rock solid images in a very spacious presentation with no noise (unless there is some flaw in the particular pressing). I can best describe it by saying that you notice no "halo" around the sound coming from the turntable-- something that is most noticeable when it is absent.  Whether that is solely attributable to the arm, or the combination of the arm with the very high mass table is not clear.
The Airline (and this may hold true for the ET2 as well) also seems to like a lower compliance cartridge. After years of running the usual high-end Lyra and Airtight cartridges, the synergy with the Koetsu stone bodies has given me the best sound I've ever had from this system. That cartridge change has also rectified one of my chief complaints about the sound of my system- the lack of convincing, deep bass, which is often a complaint about these arms. On double bass, or the lowest registers of a concert grand,  I now get a fully fleshed out image that not only has real gravitas, but also the sort of dimensionality in the bass for which the Koetsu is best known in the midrange. These qualities keep me soldiering on despite the complications of running this high mass rig in an old house with springy floors and air hoses and compressor. Perhaps when our current health crisis subsides, you can make some meaningful comparisons and judge this for yourself.