Nube question - what does a tonearm upgrade do

Doug,

Good post, and I think we are in agreement. A few years ago, a friend got into vinyl for the first time. His first table was the cheapest Project table, but, the cartridge he bought was an Ortofon Per Winfield, something FAR from a starter cartridge The table was set up optimally, including the necessary use of a custom-made counterweight, the use of a Feikert protractor for alignment, digital scales for setting tracking force, and even the use of an azimuth analyzer. While the setup sounded quite good, there was some mild distortion on loud passages in the inner groove section of some records. The basic sound was decent, but, far from what the system was capable of delivering. This was a temporary setup and the owner very shortly went with a MUCH more appropriate EMT table/tonearm combination that sounded WAY better. I have also heard the opposite arrangement (cheap cartridge on highend table/arm), and I agree that works better than the other way around.

A decent arm is very vital to good phono reproduction. But, I am sure that there is plenty of room for all of us to fight over how good is good enough, at what point is one getting "high-end" sound, etc.

(Try balancing your cartridge/tonearm to 0 VTF so it floats level, then blow gently sideways on the cartridge. On many cheaper arms it will move an inch or so. On a top quality arm it will float all the way across the record.)

I guess that makes all Well Tempered arms trash. I don't think so.

1. TRACKING and TRACKING again.
2. ADJUSTABILITY.

Better arms offer better and easier adjustability that implies to better TRACKING again.

Larryi,

I think we're in agreement. Different words, similar concepts.

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I guess that makes all Well Tempered arms trash. I don't think so.

The first function of a tonearm is to center the cartridge directly over the (constantly moving) record groove.

If a tonearm's bearings (or whatever it uses to function as bearings) impede horizontal movement of the cartridge in response to the groove's inward spiral, then to the extent of that impedance, the tonearm will impair sonic performance by placing unnecessary lateral compression forces on the cantilever and suspension. In general, the sonic result would be slowed or softened dynamics and diminished amplitudes.

This is true regardless of the brand name of the tonearm.

Just outstanding information ! Far more to this tone arm thing than I had ever imagined . Thank you Larryi & Dougdeacon .
I'm curious...how would the Pro-ject 9 tone arm rate that came on my Music Hall 5.1 table ? What would be a reasonable tone arm upgrade while keeping the stock Magic 3 cartridge ?
Once again...great tutorial !