Is it worth this tonearm?

Peter,

You've already gotten many insightful responses. I do know one UNIverse owner who upgraded from DP-6 to TriPlanar. He was frankly astonished by the improvement wrought by the TriPlanar. My experience with the Atmos suggests it is worth having a very good arm, so if the budget allows...

Based on your musical priorities and your desire to set/forget when feasible, you chose well getting the Atmos rather than the UNIverse. While both cartridges respond to very fine tuning, the Atmos is more forgiving of small inaccuracies. That's a nice way of saying it's less resolving than a UNIverse, but for many listeners and many records that is probably just fine. We get extraordinary musical results from the top model, even more since some recent changes I'll be posting about, but that extraordinary resolution demands extraordinary attention to every variable. You can't get one without the other.

Best,
Doug

Peter, I recently switched from a Moerch DP-6 (with 12" Red wand) to a Triplanar, each used on a Galibier Gavia. In my opinion, they are both excellent arms and, with the right cartridge, are each capable of top flight performance. It is hard to provide helpful capsule descriptions of the two arms because the sound of the Moerch (like many other arms) will be affected so much by the choice of phono cable. The Triplanar has a dedicated cable so it isn't subject to that variable. With that major caveat, I found the Triplanar to have slightly greater inner detail and a more solid low frequency foundation. Of course, the Triplanar also has more convenient adjustments for VTA and cartridge alignment.

For someone who prefers to listen to music rather than obsess over tonearm adjustments, the Moerch can be quite satisfying. If you are the type who wants to adjust VTA for each recording, the Triplanar is clearly the way to go.

Dave

Doug, good to see you made it here. Thanks for the advice. Dave, much appreciated. Its really good to see advice from folks who have had experince with both products. Thanks a lot.
That was one thing i was certianly wondering about. I've heard that phono cables make a noticeable change in sound and the fact that the triplanars was preset did concern me, as I would not be able to play around with cable choices, which at time I enjoy doing. That was a plus for the Moerch.

In the end though and mostly based on the advice of you great folks here, I ordered the triplanar today. I think it was a good move. Also, I will be revising my statement about not fooling around with tuning in the adjustments. I'll probably to that too. I'm no golden ear but part of that is training over time right!?

Cheers all and thanks for the help
Peter

Peter- Great choice. I can't say anything about your table, but the rest of the set-up should be killer! Congrats. As you know, the Doshi/Tri-P/ZYX combo works very well (as does VAC/Schroeder/ZYX). The Schroeders also have dedicated phono leads and I think that there is a big advantage (at least theoretically) in removing any mechanical connections which must have a significant impact on that tiny signal from an LO MC cart. So given all that, I would have made the same choice as you did, if I'd thought that the $$ were worthwhile. For me, analog is still a secondary source, so I could not justify the $$ for a new Tri-P (and missed out on a few used ones). There was a very modest cost savings in buying a used Schroeder. The marketplace has determined that the time savings are more important. The M2 I bought was far and away the most expensive used purchase I have made as a percentage of new price. New SMEs are discounted much more! I have no complaints either; I listen to blues, folk, country, rock and pop mostly, with some jazz and an emphasis on smaller scale, simpler arrangements featuring vocals and acoustic instruments. For that kind of music, communicating emotion, true timber and subtle micro-dynamics are key and I think that the M2 does a fantastic job. But when I spin my discs on Doug and Paul's rig, they all sound great. Enjoy!!!

Hi Peter,

From your description it sounds like you and I were in the same frame of mind before making the Tri purchase. I listen to pretty much the same music that you list. I can tell you that I've been very happy with my Tri purchase and use it for my reference arm/cart setup. I don't adjust VTA except for changes in record weight, or if it is some jazz LPs, or classical recordings. The Tri makes it very easy and repeatable, and I'm guessing that you'll find yourself making more changes than you originally anticipated.

Michael, that M2 must be a great step up from the Origin arm! Good on ya'!