Has anybody tried the Reed 3P?

Dear Nikola, I think Sean and I were talking about the central structure that supports the pivot and is in turn bolted directly to the armboard. When you say "arm pod", do you refer to some other accessory that they manufacture for mounting the tonearm outboard from a turntable? Anyway, if the part that Sean and I are discussing is indeed made of stainless, then a stainless arm board would be ideal. Seems like Steve Dobbins agrees. Alu would be Ok too, since the energy transmission would be nearly as good as using SS, if not perfect. Ideally, I think a tonearm should be a single solid dense structural piece with the armboard or whatever is used to support it.

Hi Nandric,

I once spoke with Joel Durand who makes the Talea and Telos tonearms and he was of the opinion that stainless steel is an ideal material for an armboard for his arms.

I imagine the Reed arm pod is quite good. Unfortunately I can not accommodate it because my TT plinth is large and my rack does not have room. I don't remember the price of the pod but I think it was pretty reasonable.

Sean

Lewm, Yes that is exactly what I was referring to. I noticed that the new Telos tonearm base is made out of stainless and is very substantial. There must be something to it. Also on the NVS they started with wood armboards then switched to stainless later.

Sean

Dear Lew&Sean, I have no idea what the best material for an
armboard or armpod is. I am totally innocent reg. any mechanical knowledge. My role or part in this thread become rather intermediary because I know Vidmantas very
well and am in the position to ask him any question you or
other members like. He is a mechanical engineer and inventor with many patents on his name. He used the expression 'acousticaly dead' so I 'translated' this in cork and acrylat because steel- and granite layers are certainly not 'acousticaly dead'. If however stainless steel is indeed 'ideal material' for the purpose he is (pre)supposed to know that I assume. Besides it would be for him much more easy to produce an armpod from steel than to construct and produce this complex sandwich from different material layers. However when I asked Lew if I should ask Vidmantas about those and other issues his answer was: no need to do that.

Regards,

Dear Nikola, As I recall you asked me whether I wanted you to inquire about Vidimantas' test results using aluminum or carbon fiber arm wands. I did not think it was important enough for you to go to that trouble.

I took my cue from the Kenwood L07D. The Kenwood has a very substantial brass and stainless puck-shaped base into which the vertical shaft of the tonearm is inserted. Then the shaft is gripped firmly into the brass and stainless puck by a ratcheting mechanism. The whole is also permanently affixed with the bearing cup by a very substantial steel girder. This is a subjective judgement, but I believe that one can hear the benefits of this structural strength in the way the L07D plays music. Note that other vintage Japanese tonearms also provided ways to achieve a solid heavy anchor for the tonearm in a material that resembles the tonearm structural material, e.g., Fidelity Research accessory base B60, SAEC accessory "stabilizer", and Micro Seiki stabilizer. There must be something to it.