But my original point was and is that the arm is heavily weighted, at least 2 lbs, so that when you sit it on a plinth surface that is in turn well coupled to the platter bearing, then there is a sort of coupling. This is not "like a pod" in that external forces can only disturb the Viv to the same extent that such forces might disturb the bearing; there is only one pathway (through the feet that support the slate plinth) from the shelf into both the Viv and the bearing assembly. Many other well regarded conventional pivoted tonearms are designed to sit on top of the plinth; these do not require a hole for a vertical shaft that supports the bearing and therefore you could argue they are not firmly coupled by imbedding into a formal tonearm mount. For examples, the Dynavector DV505, the Triplanar, and most of the Reed tonearms. I am sure there are others. There are some users of the DV505 who do not fix it with screws to the plinth; they just set it down on top. That would be "less coupled" than with the much heavier Viv. Also, there are many linear trackers that are only weakly coupled to the bearing by virtue of how they need to be mounted. Anyway, I can only report what I have done and the results as I hear them. I am certainly a believer in the need to couple the arm to the bearing, which is why I am happy my slate plinth I had made for the Lenco has room for the 9-inch Viv. The whole issue is a bit moot, since the Lenco sits on an energy absorbent shelf over a poured concrete floor 8 feet below ground level in my suburban bus-, truck-, and train-free home environment.
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They sit atop the plinth when the turntable is designed for that. For something such as the suspended subchassis Sota that I mentioned, they can be affixed to the subchassis. Not so the Viv. Again, the Viv apparently excels notwithstanding these apparent limitations. I'm not disputing that at all. |
Red herring. I am not using a spring-suspended TT. In fact, the Lenco is mass loaded and then isolated from below by energy absorbing feet and shelf and stand sitting on a very inert floor. If you are saying that you use a SOTA or other spring-suspended TT, and if this issue is of vital importance to you, then perhaps you ought not to consider the Viv. Anyway, the tonearm mounting board on a SOTA moves in unison with the platter and bearing; you could mount a Viv on that arm board. However, I know you will say it’s not bolted down and therefore won’t make you happy, but actually how many tonearms are held in place with much more than 2 lbs of force? (I actually think there may be threaded inserts in the bottom of the base that do permit holding it down with machine screws; I will have to check.) |
Again, understood. I’m talking about the arm in general and remember, I’m one of the guys who isn’t questioning your assessment of this arm.
Nope. From what I’ve read about the Viv arm, it would be no problem putting it on my VPI TNT. I’m just talking about the arm generally.
Good grief. You obviously haven’t been reading the favorable comments I’ve been making about both this arm and the users such as you that refuse to allow specs and stereotypes to cloud their judgment. @lewm, I will leave the last word for you. I'm done with this thread, where even positive comments are subject to attack.
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