SP10 MK3 recommendation

Btw, I own several 12" arms that I almost don't use any more other that for especial tests.

R.

Gentlemans, please no offense to the 12" owners. I live in the " error " for years ( not only in this critical tonearm subject but in many other audio subejcts. ) following what the AHEE teached me till I take the " destiny " of my audio life by my self and trhough this movement/action I learned and still learn each day in a few years a lot more " interesting " discoveries in audio that in all those years under the AHEE tutorial. Every one of us pass through that kind of tortuous road.

The best thing that happened to me in audio was that AHEE's LIBERATION/LIBERATED.

Today the only audio compromise I have is with. M U S I C !

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul,

While I agree that much of the fascination with 12" tonearms is stylistic, that is also true for turntables and almost every other piece of "audiophile" gear. But there are still some valid and practical differences that make 12" tonearms useful and desirable for certain applications.

16" (12" EL) tonearms are a holdover from the days of transcription turntables, so-called because they were designed to play 16" transcription disks. Many of these early systems morphed into commercial playback systems designed for audio studios and radio stations, and many of the early stereo cartridges were (and still are) designed for longer tonearms; such as the Denon DL-103, some of the obsolete Shure cartridges and the Ortofon SPU series.

Everyone has read or recited the standard mantra about longer tonearms and lower tracking error. In a perfect world this is true, but in practical terms the actual advantage doesn't amount to all that much. Also, I think that your argument about tonearm wire length is somewhat specious. Unless you were skirting the edge of danger with your tonearm wire or had some fantastic interference, the actual difference for the distance involved between a 10" and 12" run just isn't that great.

Your argument about mechanical damping is probably valid, except that 9" and 12" tonearms are not designed exactly alike and (presumably) a competent tonearm designer would have accounted for the mechanics.

As audiophiles we routinely use the term resonance to describe a complex series of mechanical interactions between the cartridge, tonearm and the arm board or plinth. The fact is that tonearms of equal length but with a similar published value for "resonance" do not act the same, do not sound the same and are not matched well to every cartridge. They are simply not the same. Without getting into a Physics 101 lecture, let's just agree that complex mechanical assemblies made up of different parts and different materials behave differently. While the published value for "resonance" may be the same, different arms will load and transmit energy from the cartridge differently.

In short, the tonearm and cartridge work together as a unit, and some cartridges will simply work (sound) better with longer tonearms.

My apologies to the OP for going off topic. Raul, I have little experience comparing 9" to 12" tonearms. HOwever, I did do a rigorous two week direct comparison between the SME V and the SME V-12 on the same turntable with the same cartridge and wire. The V-12 is much better. In addition to the difference in tracking error, there is also other geometric advantages to the longer arm. Namely, different thickness LPs effect SRA/VTA less, the headshell offset angle is less, lessening the need for anti-skate. Energy absorption may be different.

In my system, the longer arm resulted in a freer, bigger sound. There is more extension and less distortion. Music sounds more natural. Of course, others may have different results, but I prefer the longer arm in my system.

I have Reed 3Q 12 inch arm (cocobolo) and used it with Air Tight PC-1 Supreme and now have Lyra Atlas on it. Using both on TW Raven AC-1, I would give an edge to Lyra. Air Tight is a bit cooler, a little bit more delicate, bass is tight, deep. Lyra is more robust, more slam, bigger sounding, a bit more full body. Neither sound harsh, bright or edgy on lesser recording. Air Tight/Reed combination was great on most classical, vocal, chamber, piano music but not as good on rock,pop, large symphonic pieces. Lyra/Reed is really good on just about all kind of music I throw at it. Mine you, Air Tight can definite rock but not with Reed. Air Tight bass was excellent with Graham but I never quite managed to get the same magic on vocal, piano or violin as I did with Reed. In fact overall, I prefer Air Tight on Reed or JWM 10.5i than Graham. However, Graham is a much much better match to Dynavector XV-1s than Reed or JWM 10.5i.
If you stick with Reed, I definitely would go with Lyra. If it is other arms, it really would depends on synergy, I suppose.