Dr. Feickert Blackbird

@senza , I hate to be a stick in the mud but the Viv Labs arm is a seriously bad joke. The marketing is even worse. 

I play my mono records with the exact same stereo cartridge I use on everything else. I am certainly not spending another $10K for a cartridge to play the 100 or so mono records I have. 

The only reason I can think of for two arms would be if you had a large collection of 78s which require a different stylus. As much as I play my 78s I do not mind flipping cartridges. I must admit that my approach is also mandated by the fact that my table will not accept two arms under any circumstance. 

mijostyn,

Let's listen to some Oscar Peterson, a few stereo lps with your $10,000 stereo cartridge via stereo mode, wonderful. Now, this LP is Mono, play it how? Not like I used to, what you advocate, a stereo cartridge is OK, not best I don't care what it is. It was here I learned, and trust me it is true,

Playing Mono with a true Mono cartridge is an improvement, The improved clarity, distinction of individual instruments, voices, and reduction of noise can be small, large, quite large

, it varies, but it is definitely improved. Recording techniques were quite good, sometimes amazing, you deny yourself that level of enjoyment.

GET THEE A MONO CARTRIDGE!

$160.

 

Next: does your preamp have a Mono mode? Next, can you send L+R to one side, listen to only one speaker? Next, enjoy the sound sitting anywhere in the room, When I was selling LP's, I only sold 'inaudible scuffs'. I discovered, some desirable LP's with audible scuffs: Mono, the noise was there, but below the volume of the music, listenable. Stereo the noise was much more pronounced, to an unlistenable degree. I asked my buyers if they had Mono Cartridge before I sold them those few LPs.

OP wants two arms. WHY tell OP not needed?

Find, love, settle on a preferred MC cartridge, forget further comparisons. OK.

An MC fixed stylus cartridge is an excellent reason to have a second headshell (exchange/re-adjust height? tracking? anti-skate?), OR second arm ready to go with a MM cartridge with a replaceable stylus to

play .... LP’s that don’t have content that benefits from the difference, IOW do not wear out your expensive non-replacable stylus for no good reason.

That’s why I added my 3rd arm. 2nd arm is Mono always ready to go. I realized I was wearing out my stylus on fun but not acoustically special content. Especially playing ones I intended to give away or sell.

 

I'm sure the Blackbird is a fantastic table, I owned 2 Volares and then the Woodpecker - solid performers.

I had the Kuzma 12 VTA on the Woodpecker and wasn't too keen on it, mostly it never felt stable when cuing and it was a bit of a pain changing out cartridges and doing a new setup. But I'm not thrilled generally with Unipivots.

Check out Origin Live for excellent tonearms. Pick the one from their lineup that you can afford. I had the Illustrious and it's a fantastic arm. You don't see them too often on the used markets. 

 

Since all listeners approach playback from their own perspective and goals there are many many different ways to skin the audio cat.  To @mijostyn the focus seems to be on an vibration isolated table with a dustcover, flat clean record, mid compliance cartridge and medium weight tonearm.  I'm sure there are other goals too. Others love the sound of their vintage idler turntables and SME 3012s because at the end of the day, they like what they are hearing. 

It seems a bit silly to debate the right or wrong of the minutiae here, especially when it comes down to preference for a multi-arm system or stereo versus mono carts. Its more important to characterize what these differences sound like or do for a listeners system. For example, the ViV labs arm violates many dogmatic rules of tonearm design yet sounds great to many experienced ears when set up right and matched with an appropriate cartridge.  How does it sound differently than a linear tracker or a 14" Kuzma 4P?  

The OP is interested in a two tonearm system which will restrict the TT selection to those that can pull that off well.  The Kuzma Stabi R is one of them.  There are many others including the Fieckert, Micro Seiki, TechDas, Galibier, and CSPort.  As I said above, having multiple cart-arm combos ready to go is valued by listeners who like to change flavors based on listening moods. Its not about right or wrong.

It all gets very tricky when the experienced among us have strong experiences with change from one design to another. I'm sure @mijostyn and @elliottbnewcombjr opinions' are refined after many years of experimenting.  They have just come to different conclusions, like we all do. My closest audio buddy uses vintage Marantz tube gear (7c, 8b, 10b), a Rega P10, Nordost cable and Nola speakers.  Sounds amazing and I enjoy listening to his system.  But there is no way would I try to replicate his system in my house. Except that 10b Tuner, I love that thing so I bought one. 

We may all want to hear what is actually on the recording but at the same time we listen for different things.