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Where did tracking error go?

Back in the dark ages, when men were men and I still owned vinyl......
There were many tonearm designs, not to mention linear tracking designs that were meant to keep the stylus perfectly in the track as the tonearm moved in an arc across the record.
My local dealer carries a few fancy schmancy turntables - but none of the tonearms address this. He couldn't answer the tracking error question - in fact he looked like he hadn't heard of it before.
How did we make this go away? What's next - gravity?
24phun
albertporter's avatar
albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Eldartford, excellent answer. Linear tracking may not be perfect but superior in every way to cutting across a circle with a circle (round LP with pivoting arm).
24phun OP
56 posts
 
When I left the vinyl world, linear tracking was what I was using.
Not that I'm going back there, but from what I'm gathering - linear tracking still is offered? I haven't seen any such turntables advertised or in person.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Tracking error in pivoted arms as opposed to linear arms didn't go anywhere of course, it's just that, as with direct-drive vs. belt-drive, there are reasons why one method has generally prevailed in the home audio market, and those reasons have to do with factors other than what most resembles an inverse process for how LPs are cut, because there are advantages and difficulties to each method.
audiotomb's avatar
audiotomb
1,112 posts
 
al

round record with a pivoting arm is a good approximation with a nice arm if one doesn't have the commitment level and total lack of compromise of your stratospheric Walker setup
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Audiotomb...My system is quite low altitude, but the linear tracking arm benefits are real. I think that elimination of skating force is the most important benefit...much more than the azimuth angle issue.
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