Gyrodec Best Tonearm

I had a Zeta on my Michell Gyrodec for many years. Finally, I decided to upgrade the turntable but keep the Zeta. In my opinion, it is one of the best tonearms ever made. The Michell, on the other hand, is just a very good turntable. The Michell benefits from various upgrades to the platter, bearing, motor, power supply, etc, and gets very expensive after all these changes. The Zeta can benefit from a bearing check-up, because even the factory didn't bother getting them all adjusted just right. I remember that John Bradshaw of Reference Monitor (the USA importer of Zeta and Michell during the 70s and 80s) said the Michell and Zeta are an absolute PERFECT match for each other. He praised the very high quality bearings in both products, and claimed this is the most important single quality for good sound. But the Zeta factory did not take the time to adjust each arm's bearings carefully enough. Bradshaw used to carefully adjust the bearing clearance for every arm brought into the USA through his office. They need to be just tight enough for the arm to float freely, but not a drop looser than that. Arms that are not adjusted just-right sound different from the ones that have correctly tweeked bearings. The Zetas have a reputation for not all sounding the same, precisely for this bearing adjustment situation, according to Bradshaw. Contact Audiogon member "SayHi5" for a technician that can do this.

I would have to agree as I was a dealer for both of them then and often sold them together. A friend still has a Zeta and still likes it. They came in a nice wood case; this came in handy once when UPS left one under a bush in my yard and I didn't find it till fall when the bush lost its leaves; it was undamaged.

Does anyone has ever tried AUDIO ORIGAMI? I am in between SayHi5 and Audio origami for my zeta tune up! THANKS guys!

This is SayHi5. I have experience upgrading and adjusting a few tonearms, including the Zeta. But Audio Oragami has a truly fantastic reputation, with a wide variety of tonearms, including Zeta, Rega, and Dynavector. Personally, I highly recommend them, as have many other tonearm owners that benefited from their care and experience. You cannot go wrong choosing them.

I remember speaking to one very good dealer that due to their suspension an SME IV or V are a bit heavy. He preferred the various origin live variants (not the huge ones)