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High end turntables Why? 2 tonearms

Hello denziens of the analog lounge,

After looking at many high end statment turntables such as the antique Thorens reference to the latest word from Teres in direct drive the Certus 460. I am intrigued by this option. It reminds me of a cutting lathe more then a TT.

Would not the extra arm affect the reproduced nuances of the musical sound as much or more even then say a brass tone arm holder vs aluminum vs stainless steel vs wood to infinity and beyond?

Is this a way to have two approaches available when listening say to acoustic recordings and then a different point of view for classical or jazz with the other arm on the same platform ?

Would one have say two identical arms with different pickups or even two different arms with two different pickups.

Is there an advantage to two arms over two turntables other then the size of the foot print?

Your opinions would be appreciated. I am about to upgrade from my old but once state of the art JVC QL Y66F which while protecting my vinylhas always been "not as good" as the AR it replaced in 85. I love the Michell TT's as well as the Teres. I am not thinking about two tone arms, one Schroder will have to do.

This is just a way of introducing myself to the ladies and gentlemen of the forum.

yours truly
Joseph

Groovey
128x128groovey
salectric
751 posts
 
Since no one has responded to Groovey's question re sonic interaction between 2 arms, I'll throw in my 2 cents. I have a Galibier Gavia which has mounting holes for 2 arms. I have a Moerch DP-6 mounted on a Galibier aluminum armboard that is securely bolted to the aluminum base. I have tried mounting other arms (VPI JMW-10 and AQ PT-6) using a wood armboard, and each time there has been an adverse effect on the sound from the Moerch arm. In other words, there must be some resonances in the wood armboard that are affecting the Moerch.

If I were serious about making the second arm option work, I would invest in aluminum armboards for the other arms, and see if that solved the interaction problem. I guess I'm not that serious though. Whenever I have had both arms set up, I have tended to use just one. Maybe if I had a mono cartridge, I would use the second arm more. For now, I have decided it makes more sense just to have a single arm with a stereo cartridge set up to bring out its best.

Enjoy!

Dave
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Thanks for trying that experiment, Dave. I was thinking of doing the same, i.e. second arm on a wooden armboard just to see if it would be worth it before shelling out for the second Galibier armboard. Sounds like doing it right the first time may be the best way to go. BTW, what wood did you try?
salectric
751 posts
 
I have tried Red Oak and Hard Maple. The maple didn't affect the sound as much as the oak, but neither was acceptable.

Dave
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Just to make sure I understand what you're saying. You mean that attaching another arm on a wooden armboard adversely affected the performance of the Moerch that is mounted on the aluminum armboard?
salectric
751 posts
 
That's right. It's not an electrical interaction issue. My Artemis phono stage has a single input, so only one arm was connected to the outside world at a time. The other arm was just sitting there.

Now I don't know how much can be generalized from my experience. For instance, if you're using a table with a wood base like the Teres, would the presence of an additional wood mounting platform make any difference? I don't know. But I suspect adding a second arm on a wood platform attached to another all-metal table would have a noticeable effect on the sound.

The only way to find out is to try it.

Dave
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