Discuss The Viv Lab Rigid Arm

I met with Mr. Koichiro Akimoto and his family near Kamakura during my trip to Japan in March. We discussed the Rigid Float arm at length. He has a Masters degree of engineering of the University of Tokyo, Japan's most prestigious school. He explained to me many parameters in his design and why he thinks the older tonearm designs had their emphasis wrong, when it comes to acoustically correct record playing. I must admit, many of his arguments went straight over my head, as mechanical engineering is not my knowledge base at all. But as a scientist, I value experiment over dogma any time. So, I bought the arm from him on the spot (for a very good price, mind you, the $ / ¥ conversion rate playing well in my favor), with the promise that I could return it for a full refund if I don't like it. He is a really nice guy, btw., rather shy but very enthusiastic about his research and invention - as much as his advanced Parkinson's allows. Long story short: I installed the arm on my PTP Audio Lenco-revival TT (hugely recommended, btw.), replacing my old and trusted "Woody" arm by Pete Riggle up in WA. The correct setting up is actually straight forward, but the setting of the correct  VTF is somewhat tricky: I had to wait for a few seconds before taking my weight measurements, as the arm indeed floats in a cup filled with ferro-magnetic fluid. It is also very light by itself, which needed steady fingers on my part. However, after several email exchanges with Akimoto-san and helpful tips, I managed to get it steady and ready to play. My cartridge needs only 1.5 grams VTF, which might also have complicated things (Miyaji MEMS, by itself a true revolution). Well, what can I say: this arm completely disappears; it seems to get completely out of the sound-picture, letting the Miyaji do its magic completely uninfluenced. When compared with the "Woody" (which I really loved up to this point), everything appears "clearer", more transparent and natural, without sacrificing anything, same rhythmic drive (Lenco!), super bass, spatial placement and contour, etc. etc.. In comparison, while equally dynamic and "clear" in its presentation, the "Woody" all of sudden sounded "euphonic", still lovely and pleasing, but with rounded edges. With the Rigid Float I felt like a layer of old varnish had been removed from the musical painting. But nothing else! No idiosyncrasies that would scream "new tonearm" at me. As I said before, it completely got out of the way. I think the complete acoustic decoupling by the fluid bed plays an important role here, but most likely also the unusual geometry of the arm. I strongly recommend to forget historic dogma in this case and let your ears decide, which is what we all should be doing, lest this hobby turns quickly into a religion. And no: it never even crossed my mind to return this masterpiece! (Miyaji MEMS cartridge, PTPAudio Solid 9 TT with external speed control, SUPRATEK Grange Pre, Linkwitz Powerbox (1 per channel) active crossover/amp, Linkwitz 521.4 Mg speakers, MSB Discrete DAC, Apple MacBook Air).

If you happen to be in the SF Bay Area, you might want to stop by my house for a listening: always welcome!

Dear Reimarc, Thank you for this report. You or a member of your family must speak Japanese, because in my indirect dealings with Akimoto-san, I learned that he does not communicate well in English. Nevertheless, I too bought my Viv directly from Akimoto-san under the auspices of my son, who has lived in Tokyo for about 18 years and is fluent in all aspects of the Japanese language. Like you, my son also found Akimoto-san to be a very nice, soft-spoken, and humble man. His character also came through to me in the context of short emails he and I were able to exchange directly. Apart from our shared appreciation of the Viv tonearm, we have in common the fact that I too am a (retired) scientist (in my case an MD molecular biologist/virologist), and I too have my Viv mounted on the deck of a Lenco. Mine is an OEM Lenco except I threw away the plinth, the bearing, and the tonearm and mounted the remaining parts in slate (which was in vogue at the time among gurus on Lenco Heaven). I also use a PTP top plate and a huge aftermarket bearing made in England (by a guy I only remember as "Jeremy"). I drive the motor with a Phoenix Engineering power supply controlled by the PE Roadrunner tachometer. The platter has been painted externally with vibration-reducing paint and further damped by O-rings around its perimeter. (The idea for that came direct from the late, great Win Tinnon.) One virtue of the tonearm is the very functional cue-ing device, about as good as any I have ever experienced. Also, I have never had a problem with setting VTF. I wonder what model of Viv you chose. I have the aluminum 9-incher, aka the "9HA". I have never been a fan of carbon fiber in audio, with the exception of carbon fiber headshells. For several cartridges, I use Yamamoto or Oyaide carbon fiber headshells in lieu of the Viv Nelson Hold headshell. The Lenco ensemble drives a Manley Steelhead which drives the built in direct-drive amplifiers of Beveridge 2SW speakers supplemented below 80Hz with a pair of Transmission Line woofers.

Raul, Please convey my apologies to the Lofgren family for any perceived but unintended insult, but I also do not think it is insulting to Lofgren to point out that his work was primarily aimed at solving the geometry problem of how to minimize TAE while using a pivoted tonearm of manageable length. His solution is to offset the headshell at an angle. Is it not otherwise accurate to say that he did not envision modern stereo LPs nor modern exotic stylus shapes? Lofgren was working with the technology he had in front of him in 1939 or thereabouts.  No sin in that. Puh-leeze! It's rather ironic that you take offense on behalf of Lofgren, considering that you have insulted so many living, breathing audiophiles on these forums, intentionally or not. (I love you anyway, but be real.)

That " vitriol " you posted is not vitriol but and opinion against your several times " insult " to LÖFgreen that obviously for you and dogberry is just ok and not for me. Re-read my post about.

Raul, this is a bit unhinged. Are you suggesting I have condoned an "insult" against Löfgren just because I have suggested I might try an experiment with an underhung arm? It's precisely because of this level of incoherent debate that I am interested in finding out for myself. I would have thought you would encourage the experiment, secure in your expectation that I will report that it sounds awful.

@reimarc I am myself a long term user of Idler drive TT's that have undergone modification to substantially change what was original, even though on the 401 this was mainly the Platter Bearing Assembly, the Lenco is a PTP Solid Nine which is still owned.

Today I am a DD user as the main TT, but also have a bespoke designed Tonearm, produced by an individual, who I am sure will be as captivating in the sharing of  their  TA knowledge as has the Viv Designer, Mr. Koichiro Akimoto.

I have also tried to gather a little interest within my local HiFi Group on the Miyaji MEMS cartridge, which has already created a similar content that follows the Viv from onlooker ( those with no experience).

Your offer to visit and have a experience is very very Kind, to one person the encounter could prove to be a experience that stimulates change. I am one individual with this as the outcome of a visit to a individual who has been very creative in realizing their ideas for what a audio system can sound like. The experience in relation to Analogue as a Source has been the best to date from numerous encounters and paved the way for gaining the full benefits from follow up changes being made.