I have to remember to ask Art what he uses for a stylus force gauge.
Having heard the differences that .05 g can make in terms of all sorts of subtle effects (including perceived pace and timing), much of what he's writing about could easily be randomized if his tracking force gauge has only .1g accuracy (as well as repeatability). Perhaps I can get him to comment in this thread for you.
His primary observation that the Ekos/Lingo as well as the ARO/Armegeddon combos are the best of the four possible permutations is not in the least bit surprising to me.
Remember that we are dealing with highly tuned, resonant systems. All drive systems are resonant by nature, as are all tonearms.
So, it makes sense that the pairings developed by the same company would have the best mojo ... assuming a basic level of competence as well as a musical sensibility, which both Linn and Naim have ... even if neither is my cup of tea (or rather espresso in my case).
I would stick with the matched combinations from the same manufacturer. This doesn't mean that there aren't mix and match combos that work. Heck! My 'tables sound great with Schröders, Triplanars, Micro Seikis, and a host of other tonearms.
Ideal combinations are difficult to predict however, and when you add the variable of a suspended turntable architecture into the mix, you're asking for trouble if you stray too far from components that a manufacturer has control of.
When you try to second guess what someone else is doing (and attempt to design for these conditions), you can get into deep doo-doo.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
