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Questions Regarding Installing a Wheaton Triplanar On A SOTA Cosmos

As luck would have it I recently acquired a Wheaton Triplanar VII U2, and am waiting on it being shipped. So at this point I am trying to decide what the most favorable table to mount it on, and what arm gets replaced. I have a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse with a SME V on it, and that would be my preferred place to install it. The only thing is this Triplanar has the arm cable extending out the back of the arm pillar instead of routed out the bottom of it. I have to assume the cable is going to have to be routed on top of the arm board and then over the edge into the body of the Cosmos. Not wild about that but do not see any other options other than drilling a 1/4 hole and routing the cable through it. Anyone have any experiences to share if they have installed it on a SOTA table?

My second alternative is to put the arm on my Scheu in place of a Dynavector DV505 I have. That is certainly a straightforward option, with no issues to be solved. However, I have never been fond of the SME V on the SOTA, so this would be my first choice. 

neonknight
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@neonknight 

Frank Schroder is a watch maker. All the adjustments on are simple and very effective. You have to have a light touch with everything. Each cartridge gets a mounting plate which is marked for location with a very sharp awl. With the scale on the side of the VTA post and my marked mounting plates I just have to worry about VTA and anti skate. It takes me maybe ten minutes to change cartridges. The first set up of any cartridge is always a bit tedious, but I also view the stylus under high magnification and I will snap lines on all the right angles and make sure they are in tolerance. Here are some pictures. 

 

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@neonknight 

Shame it isn't a 9 incher. You could put it on the Cosmos and the Tri Planar on the Scheu or better yet a Schroder LT.  I would sell the 11" CB the SME and the TriPlanar (it has too many parts anyway), get a 9" CB for the Cosmos and an LT for the Scheu. 

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@lewm I can only make rules for myself. No one else has to listen. Simple test. Turn off all the fans and the refrigerator and put on the forth movement of Beethoven's 9th. If you hear needle talk from one foot out you need to change something to do with your turntable. You'll have to figure it out:-)

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@pindac see my note to Lewm above. I want you to turn the gain on your microphone preamp up all the way and make a recording of the needle talk of each mat doing the 9th and we'll figure out which one is best.

lewm
13,853 posts
 

I would think that the cartridge itself is vibrating secondary to the movements of the cantilever. Not all that energy is delivered into the vinyl; what you are hearing is sound created directly by movement of air molecules because of motion of the cantilever. Of course it’s going to be more or less evident, depending upon the compliance of the cartridge, the effective mass of the tonearm, the composition of the body of the cartridge, and the degree to which energy is transmitted into the arm wand and thereby nullified. What energy is delivered into the vinyl to be absorbed by the mat is what’s left. So, while I don’t doubt that there are differences in the intensity of the "music" you can hear with your ear close to the LP, I do doubt that it is all about the record mat. (By the way, this one reason I avoid dust covers while playing LPs; that energy put into the surrounding air by the cartridge gets trapped and can cause resonating of the dust cover. But let’s not re-hash that argument.)

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