Dear Raul, Please read one or two of my earlier posts wherein I speculate on the reason why a proper underhung tonearm might be worth a further thought. To boil down what I already wrote, (1) although much is made of the extreme TAE, those very high numbers (by comparison to conventional pivoted tonearms) only occur at the extremes as the stylus traverses the playing surface of an LP. For a half-inch or so on either side of the single null point (i.e., for a whole inch or more of the playable surface), TAE is within the same range as the maxima for an overhung tonearm. Thus one would not expect to hear a problem, if one were to compare overhung to underhung in that region. Moreover, the change of TAE from zero at the single null point to the maxima at the outermost and innermost grooves is nearly linear going from positive to negative (adopting the convention that "positive" TAE is TAE that results in a skating force directed toward the spindle, and vice-versa for "negative" TAE) and very gradual. Whereas, with an overhung tonearm, TAE is always positive and is changing up and down then up and down again, across the playable surface. Maybe that is a factor too, and (2) perhaps the very significant (2X to 3X) reduction in the skating force seen with an underhung tonearm compared to an overhung tonearm is very significant for the performance of the cartridge, because the skating force is borne at the fulcrum of the cantilever and more so when AS is invoked. All of this is speculation stimulated by listening and thinking. No measurements.
My listening so far suggests that the Viv makes average or above average cartridges sound better than I expect based on prior auditioning in overhung tonearms, but it cannot make a mediocre cartridge into a top class cartridge. Sometimes the Viv is only "as good" as a good overhung tonearm. Sometimes it portrays an ease and sense of open-ness and low distortion compared to a good overhung tonearm.
You may now re-state your often repeated mantra that I "like" distortion. Have at it.
