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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
 
The wires are threaded through one of the holes in the arm wand. They will invariably touch and assert a force on the wand. As the arm travels across the platter, the force on the wand varies, thus creating a constantly varying VTF. The differential on VTF, according to my measurements is 0.05 g - 0.08 g, between the edge and center of platter. 

The solution is to isolate the wires from the wand. Given the nature of the arm, this would be very difficult to achieve. Alternatively, one could use a very light collar to affix the wire to the wand. This should allow for a force of contact that is constant between the wire and the wand. Presumably, this should care of the variable VTF problem. This will of course increase the mass of the arm, but at least its a constant mass.
dover
2,243 posts
 
The wires are threaded through one of the holes in the arm wand. They will invariably touch and assert a force on the wand. As the arm travels across the platter, the force on the wand varies, thus creating a constantly varying VTF. The differential on VTF, according to my measurements is 0.05 g - 0.08 g, between the edge and center of platter.
With a caveat that I have never seen this arm in the flesh -

I would have thought the solution surely is to pin the wire to the apex of the air bearing carrier ( L section aluminium on top ). This would mean the loading from the wire on tracking force would be consistant across the record.

If you then run a loop from the apex of the carrier to the overhanging bracket, then the impact of the wire would then be on the lateral loading force on the cartridge/armtube/carrier and would be as a %age of the effective mass much lower ( arm has higher effective mass in the lateral plain ) and less impactful on the set up.

By the way I note in the setup referred to earlier in this thread it looks like the gentleman has the wire connected to the overhanging bracket at the beginning of the record - obviously making sure the bracket as located in the CENTE of travel would minimise the overall effect. If you listen to classical you could experiment with biasing the position closer to the end of the record so that the difficult inner grooves are less affected.

I prefer the captive air bearing/decoupled counterweight approach of the Eminent Technology ET2 which I have had for over 30 years.

In my experience most aftermarket tonearm wires are too stiff for air bearing arms. I found the least impact on lateral forces to be vintage silk copper litz (plastic and teflon sleeves too stiff ) and of whats avaialble today the Audionote silver litz and Kondo Fairy wire being the most flexible and least impactful on tracking forces.
ledoux1238 OP
280 posts
 
@dover Thanks for your input. While noting your caveat for not having seen or use the arm in the flesh, your instinct for the wire harness to rest on the apex of 'L' shape carrier seems a good one. However, it is the travel of the wire after affixing to the top of the carrier that causes problems. It will invariably make unwanted contact with the arm wand down the road. I tried this configuration after reading your post. I believe the wire contact with the carrier also affects the air pressure applied to the arm. In this configuration, the discrepancies in VTF's between outer and inner platter is as high as 1.0g!

The main problem is that the wires are not stiff enough to remain in a fixed position. And as the wires are loose, it will go off balance after a few spin of the records. However, stiffer wires are generally heavier. And they too will go off balance, creating greater havoc.

Right now, the solution is split the wires into right - left sides and co-join them at the pivot point of the wand. 


dover
2,243 posts
 
@ledouxThanks for feedback - very interesting.
The advantage of the ET2 here is that with the vertical pivot point outside the record due to the longer armtube, you can use a hanging loop to a fixed point behind the arm which does not affect VTF and is vertually negligible effect on lateral force if you use a light flexible wire and dress it properly. I think the captive bearing of the ET2 has a  benefit here as well.

You could do a custom longer armtube to get the pivot point outside the record - particularly if you use composite materials to keep the mass down. Then you could do a "hanging from the pivot" solution.

The only other thought I had was to have a flagpole on the arm carrier centred on the apex, and then you could run the wire up the flag pole and have a hanging loop back to a fixed point.




ledoux1238 OP
280 posts
 
@dover Thanks for your thoughts. I am beginning to appreciate one of the virtues of the ET arm regarding wire management / VTF. 

Having tried a few applications that involve attachment to the carrier, I am of the opinion that the wire harness should not touch the carrier at all. The carrier is in direct contact with air pressure applied to the arm.  Any attachment to the carrier affects its leveling and alters the air pressure asserted to the arm. Any application that touches the carrier in order  to secure the wires, be it a plastic tag or a 'flagpole', creates wild discrepancies in the VTF between inner and outer platter. My guess is that the attachments on the carrier alters the air pressure in a far greater extent than the contacts of the wire harness on the wand. Hence I could not get consistent VTF readings even with the cartridge in the same location on the platter.  A mere reset of the wand to make another measurement is enough to change the VTF!

As mentioned above, splitting the wires into two and reconnect at the pivot point of the wand seem to create the least damage for now.


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