A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Chris,

I failed to notice that the original suggestion was to try the rollerblock "juniors". These should indeed be far more stable under mechanical interactions than the normal rollerblocks (which I use). Nandric is correct that you'll have to suck it and see and I thjink you are right to give them a go. Maybe you could even talk to the people at Symposium first. Anyway, there is a set of juniors for sale on eBay now ($90).

Good luck with your experimentation and do let us know how it goes.

Chris,

Sorry, just one other brief thought.

If you look at the details and approach of the Equarack people, you'll see there is a major concern about mass loading/weight of component to get the best out of viscoelastic supports. As I mentioned above, I had major problems when trying noted components on one of my Symposium platforms and so you might want to look into this weight compliance factor in making your decision. Athough, at only $90 you might just think it as well to just get them and experiment!?

Either way, I look forward to hearing how it performs in your rig.

One 16 lb (7.27kgs) Solid Brass Cylinder - 4" x 4"
$152.55 dollars

Brass bolt to secure tonearm to cylinder .15 cents

Steel spikes / discs to couple the arm pod $20 dollars

Drill bit and tap for making threaded holes for 3 spikes and one bolt. $15

Brass Polish $5 dollars

Unbiased, unsolicited, comments and recommendations from Audigon members - PRICELESS

You can see the raw brass piece here.

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/view_userimages.php?user_id=5181&image_id=41998

I will try it out this weekend and if it sounds promising I will bring it to a machine shop to round it out and take out the fine scratches

Cheers Chris

Dgob - I have no problem being the guinea pig. Will try to source some locally first. I have found in the past when talking with some of these manufacturers of these products that their experiences with what we are doing is limited.
They can't seem to say yes or no to me and their feedback is very general and ambiquous.

Geoch and his audio community are obviously there already. His comments are based on the Jrs. actual experiences with people so I trust his input as been unbiased. And besides as you say they are not alot of money - again about the price of a tank of gas :)

Geoch - I do have two questions

Are there any guidelines about the weight. Have your members found there is a minimum and maximum weight with the Jrs. and is there a limitation on the height of the object.

Also you mentioned that these are used by the parallel trackers but why not the Pivot arm or any other - since they are balanced as well.
Thinking of the pivot arm I am getting visions of a construction crane on a tower swinging over a job site.

Dear Chris, the only thing of great concern is how softy you can handle the arm lift. The JR responds quite sharp to an aggressive shock and your fingers must feel only an affectionate touch as like they slip over when queing or lift down the tonearm. If you try them & regret your purchase, I'll be gratefull to exchange them with my Aktyna ARIS every time. A fellow with a Clearaudio arm has the guts to do it first and the other two just have followed. The total weight of the cart/arm is only a small percentage of the 7kgr tower and cannot affect the balance. The height is irrelevant also as one of them uses a tower of over 20cm height for his Gabriel. If you can manage to soften your ET's lift by oiling & handle it with control then I can't see any problem. I guess there are not many TT chassis permitting an independent arm pod & above that most of the people afraid to use the JR's even under their integrated TT's plinth. So, it is normal for most to avoid such an extreme & dangerous option especially when they are used to the convenience of the pivoted tonearms. I don't think there is any guide about the appropriate mass loading of JRs and I have seen them under everything from light weight Tuners to even massive speakers. I realize the difficulty for everyone to accustomed to the swing threat upon every touching of his tonearm, which may cost his precious cartridge. Although one of these fellows trusted his Insider to JRs, I'm sorry but I honestly can't assure you about your stylus safety by first hand. I don't even have an isolated arm pod ... (yet).