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tonearms with VTA-towers for true "VTAF"

Hi All,
I think the time has come to look at some more 'advanced' tone-arms that sport VTA towers. ('Old skool' is getting us not much further with this, or?))

During a lot of other, related postings it seems a good subject, I think.

Our experts, all might agree, that:

1) If you want to push the envelope for BEST possible replay, constant VTA 'adaptation' is an unavoidable matter. (nobody said madness :-)

2) I understand this means a TOP cart, inevitably with a 'most modern' type Fine-Line contact stylus, forget elliptical or can one even mention the word, spherical?

Add some TOP cantilever materials like:
- Beryllium (hard to get, as it is a very tricky material to work with i.e. very poisonous in powder form),
- Boron (which mostly has replaced the former),
- Titanium?? (was used by some of the better AT carts),
- Ruby, well some like it I hear,
- Sapphire?? (some one liked that better then Ruby, but VERY little seems about),
- Diamond (see e.g. the DV odd-ball 17D3), etc.

This should make for some VERY detailed and revealing reproduction (even in an MM cart), add to this the most revealing ingredients of a TOP LO-MC.

The end result is, that you can now here some marvellous detail (carved-outness of images, stage-depth -width, and on), B U T ONLY if your VTA is at its VERY closest to what the record was cut to! (Else you find your cart, record, arm, phono-pre, .... system sux :-)

More interesting yet, even the same vinyl brands have not always used the same cutting angles (over time). Anything from just under 20deg. to about 25deg. is what we find!

Next, these high res. styli also have each one their own preferred SRA / VTA angles, i.e. the stylus line-ridge related to the cantilever is a variable too.

Add this all up and you have a problem, particularly if you care for truly top play-back.

If you have a "VTA tower" it only seem to take 15sec. to change to the correct, previously found VTA, you do need to be organised though. If you want some know-how, Doug can tell, see also the discussion under:
"VTA setting for 'parabolic' and 'elliptical' styli"
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1244713018

There we have mentioned 3 current contenders, I quote: "Graham, VPI, TriPlanar plus a few very costly linear trackers..."

WHAT ABOUT THE: Kuzma 4Point?!

If I wouldn't like e.g.:
- multiple added connections (Graham, 7 in total?)
- wobbly Unipivots (VPI)
- too many fiddly pieces to make up the arm (TriPlanar)
- air bearings, or worse yet 'electronic' arm-feed

If I'd have an issue with these, I've no working solution to the VTAF I'd be looking for.

What say you?

Greetings,
Axel

axelwahl
axelwahl OP
788 posts
 
Hi Pryso
40 years ha, :-)

Some say:
experience is not knowing more & more about the same thing,
but knowing more & more about different things.

In fairness VTA F is not what was around before much more then ~ 15 years, maybe less?
It must coincide with the 'VTA-tower' (micrometer spindle) NEXT to (not under) the 'arm pivot, which in fact makes the whole thing (VTA change on the Fly) possible to work in the first place.
Lo and behold, there is OVERHANG 'on the Fly' also, as can be done with SME 300, IV and V series. (Even with the SME IV.vi which is a US special, Sumiko exclusive only, or 3500 etc. made for German tt maker Transrotor)

So your asking about it, is graciously forgiven...

Axel
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,874 posts
 
Axelwahl, the Triplanar is anything but fiddly! Ask anyone who owns one- set and forget. The beauty of the arm is that it **is** really adjustable, so you don't have to fiddle with it (I find that arms that lack adjustability require more fiddling). The VTA tower allows for good repeatability as well and its easy to use.
axelwahl OP
788 posts
 
Atmasphere,
>>> The VTA tower allows for good repeatability as well and its easy to use. <<<
Oh yes, I think that seems THE strong point of the design, now all the other bits and pieces look like --- just a bit much, compared to other designs.
Amazing, the way it's reported to sound - I actually have not heard it.
Forgive me, as a Mechanical Engineer I have my thoughts about busy designs... yet I can see, once in use, that that just might become secondary, of sorts.

You obviously are very fond of its sound, and its adjustability and that is good.
For me the design goes somehow against my grain, even since the quality of implementation was said to be much improved to earlier models.
(It reminds me a bit of a HUMMER 3, I wonder why :-)

Greetings,
Axel
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,874 posts
 
Axelwahl, if you are a mechanical engineer, then you would really appreciate how this arm is built were you to actually see one in person. It is the result of close to 30 years of refinement.

You can adjust azimuth very easily- most arms have marginal provision for this at best. It has the *hardest* bearings made in the world in its gymbal array. You can set the tracking pressure quite easily to within 1/50th of a gram. The arm tube is damped to prevent mid- and HF resonance. The overall trackability is so high that it usually has lower tracking angle distortions than most straight-tracking arms do.

You are right- I do like it. It plays LPs that I have recorded better than any other arm I've tried (it helps when you are involved in the production process of the recording since you know how it is supposed to sound). It is easier to compare it to tape playback than it is to almost any other arm. I would not let your personal bias stand in the way of at least trying this arm- if not the state of the art it is on a very short list of the very best.
rfogel8's avatar
rfogel8
192 posts
 
Rather than repeating what Atmasphere said above, I'll just add Ditto!

The Tri-Planar is a wonderful sounding arm and a piece of cake to set up and adjust.
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