Unipivot tone arms


Help me Understand how Unipivot tonearms function  what are the advantages and disadvantages?

lstringfellow

"I have ownd a Naim Aro for 25 ears along with a myriad of other arms. It is very stable due in part to the low centre of gravity ( below the pivot point ).

You either had a faulty arm or maybe it was your bouncy castle ( Linn ), though Martin Colloms used the Naim Aro on his Linn for many years and one of his key criteria in choosing the arm was its resistance to the problems of footfalls on his sprung wooden floor."

 

Actually, I think the Naim Aro is one of the few non-Linn arms that works with the old fruit box. However, since we are discussing Uni-pivot designs, the basic issue with the design is the problem with the dynamic azimuth error as the arm encounters irregularities in the groove. Resulting in ’rolling’ side to side. Not ideal, IMO.

VPI arms are excellent if set up properly.....like all things  Mine isn't truly a unipivot ....I've attached their 2nd pivot....works great 

Daveyf,

To the extent that a unipivot might tilt when encountering some sort of irregularity in a groove, might this degree of freedom be a plus in that the stylus will tilt to accommodate the shape of the groove rather than plowing through the groove?  This is at least an interesting theoretical issue.  Thank you for raising it.

I have a VPI, the arm doesn't bother me.

I rotate carts every month or so and it's like setting up any other cart like on say a Rega.

Now that I use a unipivot, it kinda bothers me that a gimbaled arm can only track in two axis, while the unipivot is free to track along a theoretical infinite axis.

Last time I looked, most records aren't perfectly flat.

Wow!  Great post!  Thanks to all for the excellent responses.  I learned quite a bit!