12 inch tonearms

Dmgrant1: As always the tonearm performance is cartridge dependent.

A long tonearm ( in theory ) has an advantage over the short ones than with a long tonearm the tracking error could be lower ( but this depend too of the tonearm geometry ) and that the cartridge makes lower effort to track the record, but a long tonearm is more sensitive to resonances than a short one ( and this depend too of its construction/design. ). It is almost imposible to have the perfect tonearm we have to learn to live with the trade-offs.

If ( with the same tonearm like the Moerch ) you have the right match cartridge for either tonearm : long/short, both will perform great.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Dmgrant1: Which cartridges do you own? and which one is mated with your Encounter?



regards and enjoy the music.

raul.

Dear Dmgrant1: +++++ " Don't think I would have the capability to get a 12 inch properly set up ... " +++++

Please don't leave that other opinions put on your mind that you are not " capability " to set up the long tonearms.

If the long tonearms set up were really a " pain " and only for specialist people I'm sure those kind of tonearms never exist.

Around half of my tonearms are long ones and when I follow the manufacturer set up information everything is simple and works great.

I can tell you that when the cartridge/tonearm is well matched and with good set up you could be happy with both tonearm designs: shor/long, both are simple to set up there is no problem with the long ones: this is one of many myhts out there.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Frank: +++++ " Anyone who has the tools/capability to set up a 9" arm perfectly will be able to set up a 12"er just as well. " +++++

I totally agree. This is the answer and it is all about and yes the long ones are " less forgiving " but not " big deal ".

Now, on the vintage japanese tonearms that had less than ideal geometry I try it in different ways and always return to the manufacturer recomendation: overhang and pivot to spindle distance, etc, because always the quality performance is better ( the MAX 282 is an example where its different arm wands when you choose to set up by the two null points against the Micro Seiki recomendation, for me : I prefer the quality performance on the manufacturer recomendation. ), at least on what I experienced about.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.