Shelter and Triplanar matching ?

Dougdeacon,

Thank you for the reply, it never occurred to me that there may be a problem with a new arm, but everyone makes mistakes.

The Sota Mellennium table I'm using was a display unit I purchased at the 2005 CES and was set up with a Tri Plainer VII arm . When I later decided to also purchase a Tri Plainer VII, Sota sent the armboard drilled for , and used at the CES show. When I mounted the arm, I automatically figured the board to be drellid properly. After I posted the shaking problem on Audiogon, I thought I'd check the pivot to tt center dimension. The armboard was drilled to 235.5 mm rather than 233 mm as is specified by Tri Plainer. Upon calling Sota I was told to return the armboard so they could check the hole positions and replace the armboard if necessary. I'll have it back in about a week and check the arm again.

Another thread suggested I increase the mass of the arm by sliding the chamferred weight all the way forward, and then use the lightest counterweight to balance the cartridge out to the desired tracking force. I will perform both steps and if the problem persists, I will return it for a bearing check, as you suggested. regards Ken

Ken,

Sota has had compatibility issues with the TriPlanar on some lower model tables with wood plinths and recessed armboards, but there should be no issues on a Millenium, other than the goof you already discovered of course. Geoff Husband of TNT-Audio used a Millenium for his review of the TriPlanar without any problems.

A spindle-to-pivot dimension of 235.5mm would put a Shelter at the very end of the slots, assuming you could align it at all. Perhaps that made things unstable enough to cause your vibration. Let's hope a properly drilled armboard will resolve the issue.

Best of luck,
Doug

The .5 error could be attributed to using a different arm than the one the armboard was drilled for. It seems that Tri does not use any fixture when tightening down the mount. This does lead to vaariations from arm to arm. This is why Thom Mackris had me send him my Triplanar so that he could drill the Galibier armboard properly for the arm that will be used. I'm sure this is something Thom has learned from experience.

Best of luck!

Dan

Dan,

I think it was a 2.0mm error, but your points are well taken.

Dougdeacon,

The Tri Plainer WAS at the end of the slots. At that point,realizing we could do no more, we decided to see what the performance would be. We played with the tracking force, vta, and cartridge loading until we had it zeroed in, or at least, thought we did.

Since It had been years since I had vinyl in my system, the sonics overshadowed my desire to get it perfect. Not until I noticed the shaking, did I think a serious problem existed.

Based on your replies, I will tell Sota to send an undrilled armboard, as I have no problem whatsoever in drilling it properly.

Thanks guys, Ken