Comparison of sonic qualities of some tonearms

I'm sorry, Dr. Bond, but I seem to have missed the point. I sidetracked myself into a discussion about materials.

I think that we can all agree that a cartridge can only sound its best when it is held rigidly at the correct angles: tangential, VTA, and azimuth.

That means adjustment. The finer the adjustments, and the better they are maintained, the better the sound. So adjustability should be considered as well as rigidity and damping. IMO

@drbond There is some wisdom here if you listen close enough. None of us can compare every tonearm and there is no dealer that can compare every tonearm. Frankly, never trust a human who isw trying to sell you something.  But many of us have owned just about every type of tonearm out there and that adds up to a lot of experience. But, what a sound system or any piece of equipment sounds like when it comes down to the best equipment in a speaker/room that you like is more likely to be due to the relative humidity than anything. How a piece of equipment performs is a funtion of design and the factors that make a great design are accessible to anyone although some manufacturers may try to hide them. You have one of the very best turntables and one of the very best phono stages. All of the best arms and cartridges are going to sound similar, to normal people indentical. I have three top of the line cartridges and what amazes me more than anything is they sound way more alike than not. There was a day when the differences between cartidges semmed to be much greater. 

@rauliruegas , your experience with linear tracking arms matches mine. I only made the mistake myself once. There is no current line tracker that I would come close to considering. The Reed 5T and the Schroder LT are very differnt animals, they are pivoted tangential trackers and though there are some minor quibbles I do not see why they would not be excellent arms and perhaps even a step forward.  Had I a turntable that would fit one I would have a Schroder LT already. 

And by the way, when you are dealing with a 12 kHz waveform in the grove of a 33 1/3 RPM record, 1.4 degrees is a lot with modern stylus profiles that have a very narrow contact patch. But, as I said before I thing the real benefit is in no skating. 

@terry9

No need to apologize. Your first impression was more correct: different tonearms use different materials, andtheir sonic impact would be interesting to discern.  Of course everyone knows that you neeed to set up the tonearms properly with respect to VTA, etc.

@mijostyn

I have tried only two different tonearms (Schroder CB, and Reed 5A) on the Helix, and the differences are dramatic, so I would imagine that for just about all tonearms…I’ll try a third in the near future…

Reed 5A is the one that maintains tangency, is it not?  If it is, one would expect it to be different from the CB, of course. (Sorry for stating the obvious.)

What is also being overlooked is how the Speaker producing the sound couples to a room and how the design for the Speaker influences the end sound as a result of upstream devices creating and managing the signal along its path.

One Transducer to another is the aboard and alight stops on the Journey.

The aboard (Cart’) is very much covered in talks about the source and the variances of the aboard are well documented on how one leans towards the voicing produced.

The alight (Speaker Driver) is not so commonly referred to in discussions being had. About the qualities being discovered when Vinyl as a source material and the supporting Trilogy of Ancillaries to enable a reply are under the microscope.

The end sound is the defining factor and the experiencing of the produced sound is the substantiation that all evaluation and assessments are made on.

Anything that happens upstream is not sound, the Groove Modulus, the Styli > Cantilever > Armature > Damper > Coils are not sound, but only precursors to the signal being generated.

The path for the signal has a real mine field to go through to the point it is at the Xover.

On exiting the Xover the Signal now converts electrical signal into a mechanical energy, with the end result being moved air that manifests as sound.

Speakers will through design and design types do very interesting things to the sound that are quite discernable.

Speakers will enable Sound to appear Voluminous or Confined, have a perception of Speed of delivery being quite responsive to laid back.

Structures for the Speakers in use will produce varying levels of detectable colouration.

The sound from the Speaker is the most important factor in a decision to be made, it is how this sound stimulates the Amygdala, that really matters.

The Amygdala is taking charge and is the rectification that is at work in advance of the chemistry produced that controls the Brains Auditory reception.

It is the Amygdala that produces the Chemicals, Neurone , and Motor Neurone responses that make one like or thoroughly dislike.

As all individuals are unique and very much bespoke in their reactions to environmental influences, especially ambient sound, it is impossible to make an evaluation that has a trustworthy accuracy based on a individuals description. It is impossible to suggest ones own findings are to be ubiquitous.

As said previously, all that can be deduced, is how the experiences had have effected the individual only.

The subject under discussion really is traipsing in ones impression left of a experience had, being an attempt to strongly suggest or a attempt to prove that certain devices are better than another.

'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' and 'One mans meat is another's poison'.