Wood armwand vs Metal armwand

I also do not find the sound to vary from day to day, with my Reed tonearms. When rechecking my settings they are not different either. So at least IME stability is a non issue.

I think too many people pass up wood tonearms because they fear these issues. I can't say all wood tonearms are free of these issues, but the ones I have experience with are.

I can't say I've been too impressed with the wood tonearms I have heard, for such a precise instrument wood is one of the last materials I would think of using.

Dnath, What wood tonearms have you heard? What are you impressed with?

I also do not find the sound to vary from day to day, with my Reed tonearms. When rechecking my settings they are not different either. So at least IME stability is a non issue.

How about year to year? You may not notice a very minor change from one day to the next but over a year or two it might be quite audible.

Sarcher30 I would prefer not to name manufacturers since I don't think they are individually deserving of the bad press. As for what I am impressed with the Phantom II Supreme is my reference baseline.

Consider a wood bodied instrument such as a violin. The wood type, vintage, varnish, etc will all have an effect on its signature sound and tone. A hifi instruments duty is not to add more resonance or "tone" of its own, but to most faithfully reproduce the sound of that original violin. By adding its own colorations the violin no longer sounds like the original instrument.