What's the best unipivot to arm ever made?

Graham Phantom II

Naim Aro

i like to use the term 'prefer' or favorite as opposed to best.

i have not heard all Unipivots, but i've owned a fair number of tonearms and listened to most arms out there. my favorite is the Durand 12" Telos. which is also my favorite tonearm of any type.

i use 15ips 1/4 inch master tape dubs as my reference and the Telos is as good as those in my system. it's simply more precise and without distortion than other arms i've tried. the whole reproduction chain falls away and you just have music.

it's not cheap and there is a long line to get one but it's my preference.

Dear Mike, Thanks for the URL. It is striking to me the degree to which the Telos is a "throwback" design. I note that it uses a string and weight for anti-skate and that the counter-weight is pretty far back from the pivot point, so it does not minimize effective mass. Further, the center of mass of the counter-wt is not below the pivot point so as to be in the same plane as the LP. I take this as a vindication of the design of certain vintage tonearms (the Grace wood unipivot comes to mind), not as a criticism per se of the Telos, because I am certain that it must sound great, based on what I heard from the Talea.

Have you ever auditioned the Pete Riggle wood tonearm? He is out there in your area is why I asked.

Grace 704/714. While not wildly popular in their day, they perform admirably with modern cartridges, both MM and MC and were well ahead of their time.