A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Hi Audpulse, If I am able to count this make at least two
man 'who has chosen the right material(s)'. But there are
others who have chosen for the 'acousticaly dead' arm pod
made as a sandwich from: two layers of steel,two layers of
cork, two layers of granite and one of acryl. This abundance of materials combined with the scientific reaserch regarding the acoustical death imply a different kind of animal. So it is more about the man than the material if you get my meaning.

Regards,

IME, not only the choice of material, but how the material is processed has a significant effect on the sound.

Again IME, the descending order of sonic quality is: 1 machined from solid billet, 2 extruded into approximate shape then machined, 3 forged, 4 vacuum or pressure-cast, 5 sand cast.

I should also point out that the phosphor bronze alloys used in machining are different from those used for casting (higher tin and lead content).

hth, jonathan carr

Thanks for the input Jonathan.
If I may ask.......how have you managed to determine this grading and for how many materials?

Hi Henry.

By building, listening and measuring, not only to my own designs and prototypes, but those of other designers also. Subsequent discussions with yet other audio designers and retired designers have suggested that we generally agree about the ranking.

Compared to machining, casting is cheap if large numbers of parts are to be produced, and therefore would be most attractive to a manufacturer such as myself. This is particularly true when the shapes get complex, which drives machining costs up, up, up. Unfortunately, so far I haven't been able to convince myself to use casting for anything more demanding than an active digital cable enclosure.

How many materials? Off the top of my head, aluminum(s), magnesium(s), brass(es), bronze(s), iron(s), copper(s), titanium(s), stainless steel(s). Probably more if I jog my memory.

BTW, none of the above necessarily means that you and I would come to the same conclusions. It very well could be that your audio system and listening habits are different enough from mine that we'd have to agree to disagree.

cheers, jonathan

Has anyone tried making their arm tower with brass? Do you see any advantages/disadvantages with this material?

Cheers