Basis Super Arm 9

Robert Harley sure seems smitten, and he is the kind of experienced reviewer I have come to trust. Especially when he describes the sound the way he does. I am pretty sure the stabilizing bearing design he thinks nobody ever thought of is just a variation on what Mark Baker has been doing with Origin Live from well before the SA9. But whatever. Point is the sound he describes is the sound you want. 

I especially like the integral phono leads. My experience is the extra RCA connections and expense of having to find a suitable phono interconnect make the integral lead the way to go. The phono cartridge puts out such a faint signal, the last thing you want is to run it through half a dozen extra connections before it even hits the phono stage.

I can vouch for Harley's comment about the arm being a huge factor. My experience was different but similar. The Graham 2.2 was a really fine arm. No complaints. Waited a long time to upgrade, just seemed like how much better could another arm be? Then the Origin Live Conqueror with its integrated phono lead showed me- it is in a whole other league! 

That is the only suggestion I would make, see what you can learn about how SA9 compares with something like say a new Conqueror, or even better. You are in a price range where there are no bad arms. You are down to splitting hairs over just how much magic can you get. With pretty much all of them I think the answer is, "A lot!"

Below is a link to a thread with many comments about the Superarm 9 from people who own it, as well as comparisons to other tonearms they owned.

I had a Basis Vector 3 and it was a great tonearm.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-options-for-basis-2800/post?highlight=superarm&po...

Nice job with the link jperry!   A lot of great information.  Love my vector 4.  

Both Basis arms are excellent. They are not true unipivot arms. They are "Bipivot" arms. Torsion is controlled by a second bearing. They are neutral balance arms but their vertical bearings are above record level which means wart wow will be a little worse.  The question for xagwell is will the Superarm 9 make a significant sonic improvement? I certainly think it is a better arm by design as it is obviously stiffer. It's effective mass is probably a little bit higher just to look at it which might eliminate the most compliant cartridges.(no big deal) It is a better looking arm so pride in ownership will be better. But, I do not believe there will be an improvement in sonic performance worth the price. For what it is worth the Superarm 9 has a spindle to pivot distance of 222 mm, the Rega standard. It was in contention for me as it will fit on a Sota Turntable. I chose the Schroder CB. It also has a 222 mm spindle to pivot distance. Why? It is a better value. Because it has less peripheral mass it has a lower polar moment of inertia meaning it will follow record undulations better. It is also a neutral balance arm with the vertical bearing at the level of the record. Warp wow will be at a minimum. It has a frictionless antiskating device, the Superarm 9 does not. IMHO it has better bearings although that is arguable. It will fit on the 2800 a very nice turntable. Would the CB make a noticeable difference in sound quality? Probably not. These are all excellent arms.