What defines a good tonearm

Dear Mike, Did you actually hear a difference between a Reed 2A and a Reed 2P? I thought the only difference between those two was the fine-ness of the VTA adjustment up and down.

Syntax, Thanks for the humor break. That is one of my favorite Monte Python bits.

Raul, What is the evidence that lowest possible friction at the pivot is a major determinant of goodness of a pivoted tonearm?

Lharasim, I am interested in linear trackers, but I am not interested in air pumps, filters, tubing, pump noise, etc, that inevitably go with them. Plus, if they are not perfectly adjusted in all planes, there is a kind of "chronic" tracing distortion across the entire LP. I agree they do sound "different" from pivoted tonearms, as a class.

Gosh, to think I've spent 50+ years with dozens and dozens of tonearms without making a record.

I'm a vinyl failure.

Pass the zoloft please.

Ralph wrote;

Mike and Dan, I assume that both of you have LPs that you recorded yourself and released commercially. What is the title of the LP? I'd like to get a copy.

i have your Lp (or at least one of your Lps), and respect your dramatically greater all around music/hifi experience compared to myself. although i'm no professional music guy in any way shape or form, i have had a bunch of pro audio guys record off my tt, and then do a commercial digital release with that recording.

i'm just a guy who observes and offers opinions on what i hear and then sometimes likes to connect the dots on what that might mean. i do have a ring side seat to some pretty amazing tonearm development that has openned my eyes to cause and effect way beyond what my previous viewpoints might have been.

i did use my Rockport as a reference for anything to do with a turntable, but now i use my Studer A820, Ampex ATR-102 and collection of master dubs. these are helpful as a reference to have sitting there.

it's still just subjective perceptions and resultant conclusions and not scientific facts were are considering here. i'm just speaking about what i think i hear and how my mind interprets it.

i'll leave it at that.

Dear Lewm: I can't understand your question because a pivoted ones are either an unipivot or a fixed bearing one. In the other side if I remember I did not posted nothing in that sense, I only posted the Technics fixed bearing friction spec and that's all.

During our tonearm/cartridge design research/tests we been aware that exist a boundary ( that depends mainly on the cartridge tracking habilities. ) where a " very low bearing friction " is no more an advantage. The cartridge " ask " some kind of control when due to the tracking grooves demands and whole LP imperfections under playback conditions it's going " crazy/out of self control " ( as a race car that by its inertia wants to goes out of the road on curves. ), VTF/AS and bearing friction are the main helpers about. This is really a thought subject on pivot tonearm design, obviously that VTF is the major helper but not always enough. We have to remember that we need that the cartridge stylus tip stay always at the groove and main differences between quality performance level on cartridges came from this " stay in the groove " subject.

Btw, looking at the cartridge stylus tip needs during playback tell us that not only in theory but on real circumstances the AS that some of us diminished is a misunderstood and IMHO a mistake.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Dear Mike, Did you actually hear a difference between a Reed 2A and a Reed 2P? I thought the only difference between those two was the fine-ness of the VTA adjustment up and down.

Lew, my first Reed was not designated 'A' and in fact was somewhat 'prior' model to official North American import, then my next Reed was an 'A' but without the azimuth adjustment. then i got 2 of the '2P's.

the sound of the first one was not quite as good as the others, not as precise and refined; i think it's bearing was not quite as good. then my 'A' was short the azimuth adjustment.

i felt that the 2P's sounded a small bit better than the 'A', but likely that is the azimuth adjustment, which can be acquired with the 'A'. also, with the VTA lever of the 2P's, it was easier to dial in VTA.

so good catch, it was probably wrong to assign a ranking of Reed's without considering the azimuth adjustment for both....as they ought to sound the same assuming maybe more time for dial in with the 'A'.