Thales Simplicity tonearm review in Stereophile.

Catastrofe. No. I have no beef with the Simplicity. Aren't we just a bunch of guys sitting around having a prolonged audio discussion? That's the way I think of this forum. I think it's a place where one can say what one thinks, so long as no one is personally insulted and politics are avoided. If I were a reviewer for a widely read audio magazine, I would temper my remarks accordingly, but I don't think anyone really gives a hoot about this discussion we are having, except us. Therefore, I asked out loud whether the Schroeder LT is not obviously a better design than the Thales. Why does that constitute "bashing"? For sure, the Thales products are beautifully made and the design is very clever. However, so far as I can tell from afar, the Schroeder approach is just a better way to do it. Now, Hiho has made some cogent remarks that would make me re-think my original position. Please see above where I wrote that I accept Hiho's counter-points. OK?

After more than a month last year with the Thales Simplicity tonearm and TTT Compact turntable home I can assure this is one of the best tonearms at any price.

Simply a great idea!!

If you know spanish check my review: http://www.hifilive.es/2013/02/13/thales-ttt-compact-brazo-simplicity-2/

Review of the Thales Simplicity in Stereophile's January 2014 issue.

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The TTT-C turntable got a positive review but less so for the tonearm. After reading, I really wonder if the reviewer received an arm with faulty bearings...

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Faulty bearings? Most likely. I have a Thales Simplitynand it had faulty bearings in the head shell that caused it to sometimes play the same groove over and over. Since it got repaired under warranty, it has been working flawlessly. How this could have passed QC I don't know?

I finally read Fremer's review. Why does that guy always harp on the notion that the vertical and horizontal effective masses of a tonearm should be equal? Why should they be equal? There is some advantage in having a higher effective mass in the horizontal plane, in terms of the reproduction of low bass frequencies, most of which information is encoded in the horizontal plane. I believe it's correct to say that Frank Schroeder pointed this out on another thread here. If Fremer has reason to adhere to this belief, I wish he would explain the rationale.