Can Origin Live be as good as the ads say?

All companies trumpet themselves and their products favorably. If you expect objectivity and honesty in company-paid advertising you will be disappointed every time.

OL is no better or worse than any other company in this respect. One could find a hundred examples without even trying, from the audio industry or any other.

You didn't mention which OL products interested you, but I used a Silver Mk I for a couple of years and it was one of the best value components I've owned. It wasn't world class, but in a world of $8,000 tonearms I didn't expect world class performance for $800, marketing claims notwithstanding. With a few cheap tweaks that Silver outplayed some $3K arms I compared it with, so for my tastes there was plenty of steak. ;-)

I wouldn't choose OL's highest priced arms because they lack the precise adjustability which today's reference level cartridges respond to with stunning sonic results. But for most rigs and systems you can spend more money and do much worse than buying a mid-level OL arm.

I own an Origin Live Encounter arm. It's been great for me. However, I agree with Doug that the arms are hard, not impossible, to tweak precisely. For this reason alone I am considering trying something different. If you decide to go that route and are interested in my Encounter , let me knokw.

Strangely, I have just sold my OL rig, feeling a bit troubled by it. I settled on the Resolution with an Illustrious arm, which I have used for about 3 years, very good too, good pace detail soundstaging. I agree about the lack of fine adjustment on the arm. I have ordered a TW Acustic Raven one, which I auditioned a few weeks ago, initially with the Vivid arm, ultimately the Graham Phantom, hopefully.

I have been very happy with the performance of my Encounter III.It is more dependable and less problematic than my prevoius uni-pivots.I chose this arm because it was the lowest cost model in their line to offer adjustable VTA,w/o after-market unit.A very solid performer.

What I don't get about OL tonearms, is that the angle of the up/down ivot is perpendicular to the arm. Every other tonearm I've seen has the angle running perpendicular to the needle/cartridge mount (i.e. Rega, SME &c.).