Blackbird 12.5" Tonearm: revised with DIN Connector.


Blackbird 12.5" Tonearm: revised with DIN Connector

http://newartvinyl.ru/board/detali_proigryvatelja/tonarm_black_bird12_5_5pin/7-1-0-53

If tempted, write them, you will find them to be very enthusiastic. I recommend them without hesitation.

Elliott

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Manufacturing Blackbird Video

http://newartvinyl.ru/news/izgotovlenie_tonarma_newartvinyl_black_bird12_5_carbon_chjornyj_aist/2018...

COST: (not direct comparison, just to say you can get a very nice long arm for not too much money)

75,000 rubles is $1,025. USD.

Used 12" Clearaudio, $6,700.

https://tmraudio.com/shop-new/vinyl/tonearms/clearaudio-universal-12-tonearm-new-w-full-warranty/

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MY BLACKBIRD:

I bought an earlier Russian Blackbird 12.5" effective length Tonearm, for my Vintage TT, shown here:

https://systems.audiogon.com/users/elliottbnewcombjr

Against sensible advice, I risked it. As I hoped, they are really good people, I am glad I did. Excellent friendly communication; made me a custom spacer needed for the height of Vintage JVC TT81 above the plinth.

Installation of that early version (they still offer it) gave me lack of sleep. I had to strip and solder 5 of the most delicate litz wires I ever encountered into a junction box. And then transport from shop to Plinth and install without tearing the little litz wires apart. Not for the average handyman, I had to learn new tricks. Whew, did it!

I told them repeatedly: they were nuts, they would sell a lot more of these if they would make it with a DIN connection. They finally did.

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What I like (aside from true 12.5" length):

Now: locate and drill a small hole. Simple Linn/Jelco base surface mount. Plug in Din cable, above board, easy access!

Attach cartridge to the brass plate. The easiest mount/overhang/null alignment I ever did.

Micrometer for precise arm height: /VTA/SRA adjustment. Not while playing, but very precise incremental vertical movement. Leave Micrometer in the base, or remove after setup. (Adjust VTA while playing: the Acos Lustre GST 801 is superb).

Underslung Counterweight, Clearaudio says about theirs:

" The counter-weight is underslung providing an optimal center of gravity and allowing fine adjustment of the tracking force."

Anti-Skate: gravity: dangling weight.


elliottbnewcombjr
Elliot, You figured it out. To strip those very thin gauge Litz wires, best to either scrape off the insulation with an exacto knife or burn it off with solder. I do the latter. However, if the Litz wires are silver, there is a risk of melting the silver of the wires in the process, because they are so fine in gauge. You have to be quick with the soldering iron and careful. (You seem to have noticed this issue and dealt with it.) You CAN have both shielding and no DIN connection by simply soldering your chosen shielded wires to go downstream from the ends of the Litz wires to the phono inputs. I’ve done that more than once.
As to this question of VTA "on the fly", I have vented my spleen on this question before: Why is it really necessary to adjust VTA on the fly? There is nothing lost by interrupting play, then adjusting VTA, then resuming play. If your aural memory is so short that you cannot keep in mind the tonal balance before vs after adjustment, then you have a problem. For me the big point with VTA adjustment is that I refuse to use any tonearm that does not provide for raising and lowering the pivot point in a precise, quantifiable, and repeatable fashion, and then locking down the chosen position. No more tiny set screws that squeeze the vertical shaft of the tonearm as it passes through the mounting base. You need 3 hands to adjust VTA precisely with that arrangement.  Otherwise, I see no need to be able to move the pivot point up and down while playing music. I own both a Triplanar and a Reed, as well as the L07J tonearm on the Kenwood L07D. All of these are described by some as permitting VTA on the fly. I would never think of using them that way.
lewm,

I saw videos of people burning insulation off, but I figured I would melt everything shorter, repeatedly. You willl probably agree: until you have messed with them, you can’t conceive just how tiny these wires are. Frighteningly delicate. I still have a hard time believing how many individual strands are there after looking with my 30x shop light.

Seller marked the silk covering with colored markers very near the ends. Luckily I have set of different colored tape, and was able to mark them further up, because if I made a mistake, burned the strands, the wire would get shorter, and I would then scrape the original color mark off.

Recently, a friend’s Grace tonearm, ends of the cartridge jumpers soldered to the arm, a wire disconnected. I simply burned the vinyl insulation off and made the repair, so easy, I felt like a pro!


cleeds,

I meant a logical limit to the length of and physical/interference exposure of the tiny litz wires. They are frighteningly delicate.

here is silk covered 36 individual strands, each 0.04mm strand enamel coated so the ’skin effect’ is contained in each individual strand, not the twisted mass of 36 strands until the solder joints at the ends. that’s the reason for litz ’construction’.

https://box03.lencomotionaudio.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=65&product_id=69

They could break, get scraped, lose a speck of enamel coating, that is their only insulation within the silk, thus the enamel is the only outer electrical insulation as well.

Once you change to an insulated phono cable of any type, (in an EMI/RFI blocking junction box, mine is aluminum) off you go.

I have 3’; 6’; and a custom 8’ braided phono cable from Pine Tree (originally needed to get to the bottom of my mono arm, left side rearward facing, thus front left corner din connection), back behind, then down and forward to SUT on lower shelf.

I moved my SUT up and back close to the TT, was going to have Pine Tree make me 3 short phono cables, tried my various lengths, decided not to bother, I cannot perceive a difference in sound.

Aside from sound, short lengths minimizing the chance of acquiring hum is a consideration. Happily, never an issue in this setup. Prior setup other end of the room, I chased a hum for a few weeks till I solved it. What a curse hum can be.

btw, keeping cables too short can force you to locate something too close to something else, hmmmmm there’s 'better' worsening things.