Comparison of sonic qualities of some tonearms

@pindac  - you make excellent points… i myself have ( obviously ) a hodgepodge of arms… This Spring the Triplaner which i acquired used will go back to Tri for a checkup and probable upgrade, but it’s not in the same $ latitudes as the SAT. 

The experiment i envision to TRY to address this thread ? will most likely take two possible forms ; trying the same cartridge in two different headshell arms. Yes the setup geometry will change, so delta variables are introduced. Anyway…it will be fun. Ortofon vs Dynavector using the CAR -40 or a Koetsu Urushi - Black

Yes… i know about the geometry issues, hence the alternative is Triplaner vs Ortofon ( yes i know about the advised non Japanese geometry and have ordered to supporting protractor… from Scottland )

I’m doing this experiment all the time. I’ve mentioned I have now 6 tonearms up and running in 5 TTs, three feeding Sound Lab 845PX speakers, and the other 2 feeding Beveridge 2SWs. The tonearms are Triplanar, Reed 2A, Dyna DV505, FR64S (silver wire version), Kenwood L07J (comes with L07D TT), and Viv. Where interchangeable, headshell makes a big difference. I’ve got a slew of cartridges of all types to play with. All TTs are optimized electronically and re-plinthed. For example of my results, my Koetsu Urushi sounds by far best in the FR64S with an Ortofon LH9000 headshell. 

@lewm 

How does the Viv compare to the Reed and the Tri-planar?  Have you been able to play those on the same TT with the same cartridge enough to formulate an opinion? 

Dear @billstevenson  : You are rigth about magnesium that's a really good self damping material and exist a lot of evidence about.

I remember that several several years now I bougth the Pioneer PL-630 TT with integrated tonearm and the distributor man insist 2-3 times that the tonearm was made for magnesium ( in those years I don't care about because my very high ignorance lesvels. ) and latter on I learned from Audio Technica that all its after market headshells were builded with magnesium and latter on my Lustre GST-801 tonearm came with its original magnesium headshell and it's not at random that SME V is made all by magnesium.

R.

Dear @whart  : " where I come out is that most people rely on anecdotals (or reviews?) based on cartridge and arm since as was pointed out early on, it’s pretty hard to evaluate different tone arms in isolation. "

The real problem ( other that each one of us own different rtoom/systems and different MUSIC/sounds priorities. ) is that the majority of audiophiles have very low objective knowledge levels on several analog audio world items. Then almost always we read through the post something like this: " well I like it " that's full of subjectivity statement where no one can argue about.

In other threads I mentioned that an audiophile should or must has an equilibrium between subjectivity and objectivity to achieve his main targets if any   ? ? ? Sometimes I ask me if this or that gentleman has those targets.

In the other side I agree with you that we can't evaluate different tonearms in isolation. In this case what we must do is tolearn or if already learned make an evaluation of all tonearm design/builded characteristics even before listen to it.

To make comparison between analog items we must have a REFERENCE against what we are comparing. Well, only my opinion.

R.