Looking for Tonearm Advice/Suggestions

@puppyt - if it helps, here’s a review I wrote about the old Series III

• Audiomods Series III (circa 2013)

Please note - my cartridge was a standard Denon DL103 with a spherical stylus and the phono stage was a $250 Cambridge Audio.

Since then...

• I had Soundsmith upgrade to a Ruby Cantilever with an Optimized Countour Contact Line stylus
  • NOTE: due to the extremely accurate setup required for this profile I would probably opt for the SHIBATA profile in future
• I upgraded the phono stage to a Simaudio Moon LP 5,3 RS
• Both made huge improvements to the level of detail and performance.
• But I believe the arm to be responsible for the amazing levels of details extracted from the goove

I would highly recommend getting the one piece harness with the KLE Innovations RCA plugs (installed by Jeff) - which will improve on detials, clarity and imaging. He may now use the lated TOTL RCA from KLE Innovations - the Perfect22 Harmony RCA

Here is my review of the Absolute Harmony RCA on my rig

• Absolute Harmony RCA (on my turntable)

I must admit that perhaps the Micrometer VTA was a frivolous expense, since I have not chaged VTA since insallation, but it is handy if you are of the mindset that VA should be optimized for each album played, OR if you change cartridges frequently.

Hope that helps with your choice

Regards - Steve

Steve thank you again. This is great stuff.

@puppyt 

I looked pretty hard at the Volare and I was going to put an OL Conqueror on it. I think any of the OL arms would be a homerun with that table but at least go up to the Encounter.

@puppyt , auditioning tonearms is not necessary. They work well or not by design. The best tonearms are still pivoted offset arms, 9", very stiff, with separate vertical and horizontal bearings arranged so that the arm is neutral (not stable) balance. Magnetic antiskate devices are superior. Avoid unipivot arms like the plague. Examples of arms I would consider buying are the Reed 2G, the Triplanar, the Zuzma 4 Point 9, the Schroder CB and the Origin live Enterprise. I personally chose the Schroder CB. There are two new arms that break all the rules. They are the Schroder LT, The Reed 5A and the Reed 5T. I am strongly considering the Schroder LT. All these arms will handily fit on your turntable and they range from $4K to $20K so as always it comes down to how much you care to spend.

If you're a one cartridge guy then I think it's simply how a particular tonearm/ cartridge sounds in your system. But if you in the future turn out to want or buy multiple cartridges then Tri-planar and Graham with it's changeable wand would be a less aggravating choice along with "on the fly" VTA, azimuth, damping adjustments.will make it quicker change. I guess it would be a future investment in a quicker change-over. the what I believe would be a irritating process when all you want to do is listen to how this or that cartridge would sound.