Thoughts on moving from a 1200G to Sota Saphire or above

@chakster

I wouldn’t even touch the RUBY BALL bearings on Technics EPA-100, especially on EPA-100 mkII. There are people who are always ready "to sell you an improvement", someone in his garage pretending to have better knowledge than Matsushita Japan.

So you think JCarr, the designer of Lyra cartridges operates from a garage and pretends to have better knowledge than Matsushita Japan in 1980.

JCarr - Audiogon post dated 10-13-2013

(caveat - my EPA-100 has been completely rebuilt with ceramic ball-bearings rather than the original rubies, and rewired with flying-lead signal outputs instead of the original 5-pin connector).

Perhaps you should do some research before posting ill informed comments on audiogon. And before you put your other foot in your mouth again - silicon nitride is a ceramic.

Dover, thank you for setting the record straight. So do you agree with Mijostyn that vintage tonearms are trash (paraphrasing his actual words which can be found in quotes above.) What I’d read about the EPA100 was that the ruby bearjngs are superb but fragile and thus in some cases have not stood the test of time. Certainly it’s a good idea to replace worn or damaged bearings. Come and see my FR64S some time; to my eye the center of mass of the CW is very near or in the plane of the LP surface.  I might have qualified my original remark about the FR64S CW by noting that if you use the CW to set VTF, or a combination of the CW and the spring balancer, rather than the spring balancer alone, the CW then might end up a few mm off the plane of the LP surface, give or take.  Cartridge weight would also figure into that.

@lewm 

So do you agree with Mijostyn that vintage tonearms are trash (paraphrasing his actual words which can be found in quotes above.) What I’d read about the EPA100 was that the ruby bearjngs are superb but fragile and thus in some cases have not stood the test of time. 

I dont agree that vintage tonearms are trash. There are some excellent designs. However, in my experience, very few survive more than 10 years without some sort of deterioration - bearing damage, wire deteriorating, headshell bayonet fittings becoming worn, poor contacts.

I also see that mijostyn seems to make subjective assumptions on tonearms/cartridges based on his own design preferences - but the reality is that it is not uncommon for seemingly inferior designs, or flawed products, to sound significantly better than expected, such are the vagaries of audio.
As I have stated on numerous occasions, I only post opinions on products I have set up personally, or have heard extensively in a system I know.

Yes, ruby bearings are fragile, brittle - doesn't take much abuse to damage them. I believe that one of the benefits of silicon nitride over ruby is that the silicon nitride can be produced much truer in terms of roundness and surface smoothness. The chances of an EPA100 being in mint condition after 30-40 years are not high.

Isamu Ikeda eschews jewelled gimbal bearings for his low compliance cartridges based on sound quality.

An example of unexpected outcomes is that I have an Ikeda Kiwame, a brute of a cartridge due to no cantilever and very low compliance, and yet although Ikeda says do not use a unipivot, it tracks like a trooper in my Naim Aro - a supposed mismatch - better than many gimbal bearing arms.

Come and see my FR64S some time; to my eye the center of mass of the CW is very near or in the plane of the LP surface

I have an FR64S/B60 mounted on my Garrard 301 - counterweight stub is on the same plane as the armtube - which means the centre of gravity would be closer to the centre of the armtube, several mm above the record surface in my view.

I have owned several samples of EPA-100 and EPA-100 mkII in the past 5 years, they are all fantastic, I kept only EPA-100 mkII for myself and sold 3 EPA-100 models to justify the extremely high cost of the MK II in mint condition.

My first EPA-100 was refurbished (rewired) in 2012. After rewiring there was a ground issue, the reason for rewiring was loose bearings, so I believe Foxtan (ebay seller in Hong Kong) asked his tech to replace the ruby ball bearings with silicone for me, after I complained about quality. I would’s refurbish EPA-100 (NEVER AGAIN)! I wouldn’t change the original ruby ball bearings if they are fine (all samples I bought after the incident are just fine).

Rewired sample with (VdH silver tonearm wires) and new silicone bearings was the worst sample I have ever owned!

FIRST OF ALL: Find vintage tonearms in NOS condition, fully functional as new.
I just don’t buy beaten, worn, broken garbage !! I only buy stuff that I can plug and play without any expensive refurbishing BS and snake oil promises.

If you can’t find a NOS sample - don’t buy vintage gear. Pay more to get NOS and you will be fine. This is my policy, my style.

Leave the garbage for someone else.

People charge absolutely insane prices for refurbishing in the USA, it’s better to pay more for a rare NOS (unused) item anyway.

I know very rich people who can buy all that new high-end gear, but they don’t want it, what they actually want is vintage NEW OLD STOCK (preferably still factory sealed) and they want only the best stuff.

old guys and gear rule…..today we spin vinyl on an ancient Sumiko FT-3 upgraded with flying Cardas leads, CF armtube and VTA tower structural mods…. Absolute sonic trash ;-)