Anyone here knows the Reed 3Q tonearm?

George, I agree with Curio and add my copmliments to his.
The strange thing however is that I started a similar thread some time ago about Pluto tonearms (see my threads).
Alas not a single reaction from the forum and only one from
Dertonarm in a privite e-mail.He mentioned the synergism with Van den Hul carts but also that this tonearm is not generaly known in particular in the USA. I am glad that
you proved Dertonarm to be wrong. Not a easy thing to achive versus this German. The TT's and tonearms hand made by Driessen have already a mythical status in the Netherlands but the Dutch have also some remarcable status in astronomy. There maybe some connections between the two
because the prices of Mr. Driessen are 'astronomical'.
One can put this the other way round: if you need to ask
for the price you are probable not suitable client for Mr.Driessen. You avoided this part of the story in your story like some kind of a English gentleman but the most of us are, I assume,not British and would love to hear
also about those 'earthly' subject without any harm done to astronomy.

Regards,

Hello Guys,

The MintLP Best Tractor for the Reed 3Q has arrived and I already set my Benz LP with this magical glassy template.
Well , as I expected the sound is fantastic , the detail and inner detail improved so much compared to the supplied paper template the arm sounds as another arm.
The problem now is the way a 12" inches arm sounds .. so different from my 9" Michell Tecnoarm and other well known 9" as the Graham of my friend .. I'm now disoriented.
The 9" seem invadent and sound bumped into me .. forward .. while this 12" sound very refined and polite , sweet and totally not invadent .. it sounds relaxed and more laid back (backward).
You can increase the volume without any discomfort.
I noticed the mids are a bit recessed and the highs weighty .. concrete and never edgy.
So I'm a bit surprised about this way to sound .. this is the first 12" I try and I listen .. I wasn't prepared to it.
Without any question the way to sound of this (or every) 12" inch. arm is totally different compared to the sound I'm accustomed to listen.

This is why I'm here with the horryble doubt about to buy or not to buy this 12" inches Reed 3Q arm .. or to choose for a well known 9" inches like a Graham Phantom or a Triplanar .. I know how these arms sound.

What can I do? .. any suggestion?

Hello Raul,

First .. thanks alot for your opinion.

Surely I wasn't prepared to listen a 12" inches arm .. but the difference from a "normal" (standard) 9 "inches is substantial
The way to sound is very different from the arms I know.
Probably the sound I'm getting now is more correct than the one I always got with a 9" but since I wasn't used I feel myself disoriented.
I 'll try some more days before to choose.
By the way it would be helpful to know if someone else have had the same experience.. just for a comparison.

Dear Curio: When we heard/hear live music normally the sound does not comes relaxed and laid back ( of course that depends at what distance we are hearing. ). If we hear a Steninway playing at normal levels at three meters we can't find out a relaxed and laid back performance, almost the same with any other music instruments including human voice.

The microphones in a recording normally are nearest to the " stage " that when we attend to hear live music so what we ( in a good recording that's not manipulated one. ) have to hear at our home audio system should be in this regard something near of what we hear in a live event and not that kind of relaxed and laidback performance. All the live music has a natural agresiveness that almost all audiophiles does not likes in their audio systems, why is this?, I can't understand.

Of course that if the recording was manipulated to performs relaxed then you will hear in this way.

A 12" tonearm has some advantages and some disadvantages but IMHO I think this subject could be not the main subject of what you are hearing with the Reed but more the relationship between your Benz Micro cartridge and the tonearm build materials that " resonate " with that tone balance ( yes, a 12" tonearm design resonate different form a 9" even with the same tonearm build materials but through my experiences not in so dramatic way. ) that IMHO does not reproduce the recording information in more " natural " way.

If the Graham or the Triplanar or the own 9.5" Reed or any other tonearm gives you a more true and real performance then maybe this is the road to take.

The other alternative is to find out a cartridge that could do the " trick " with that Reed tonearm.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Ps.: Of course that I'm assuming that VTA/SRA/Azymuth/VTF cartridge set up parameters are just on target.

12" arm does sound relaxed. I have 6 9" arm before I get 12" Grandezza. It does sound better in all department, which is why I'm reluctant to get 10.5" for my next tonearm.