Comparison of sonic qualities of some tonearms

Others have already pointed this out and I may as well pile on:

The sound of the tonearm is highly conditioned on matching, to the cartridge and imho also to the table.

It’s trial and error. Better for many people to buy them from a dealer who has done the trialing and erroring for you and is selling them as a package, but best to take the time to do it yourself, you will learn more.

I have been using a Sumiko MMT with a VPI HW MK IV and two Koetsus, an Onyx and a Rosewood Signature, for several decades.

See

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com/about

for details of the rest of the system.

I’ve been using the (legendary, so I’ve been told) Sumiko MMT since 1985.

Just two weeks ago, I got lucky and found a NOS minty Jelco SA-750EB.

Jelco made the MMT and this is essentially the same arm, but better, with newer improved bearings, it’s about an inch longer so it will improve on the HTA, etc.

The point being that I have a turntable/cartridge/tonearm combo that’s worked for almost 4 decades, so why fool around with a totally different tonearm design, comparable or not?

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com

@pindac
All of my components get serviced every 5 to 15 years, depending.

The tonearm has been serviced and functions as it is designed to.

People who manufacture tables and arms say that with proper maintenance, old components can last a lifetime.

The owner of VPI talked me out of spending $5,000 and out of upgrading to a classic from an HW: he said that the HW MK IV is as good as the classic and the bearing is designed to last forever. Not to be too on-the-nose about it, but that was $5K he could have made from me; instead, he told me to spend it on the wife. So, he clearly disagrees with you: since he has been building tables for almost 50 years, why should I trust you more than him?

I recently had two guests over from Israel (I studiously avoided politics for an evening): one is a repeat visitor but who hadn’t been over since Jon rebuilt the amps, and the other was his dad who had just flown in. His dad is a year younger than me.

For two hours, I played some of their favorite music, as well as some surprises. For two hours, on almost every song after song, I would drop the needle in the groove and watch them clasp their hands over their heads and faces in astonishment and disbelief: they could not believe what they were hearing. At the end, the dad gets up, gives me this enormous bear hug that only Mediterranean types are capable of, thanks me again and again and says "When I die and go to heaven, I am going to ask God to send me here".

Btw, my speakers are a mere year younger than him: they are 68 years old.

Do you REALLY think I would not give attention to maintenance?

Oy vey iz mir. 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄

@pindac
The cartridges - Koetsu Onyx and Rosewood Signature - get re-tipped and refurbished regularly. I understand that the grit that inevitably gets inside the cartridge can itself get electrically charged and stress and even break the coils.

I used to have Van den Hul do it, but I have been giving this work over to Steve at VAS in Cliffwood of late who has done a better than fine job on his first swings at each of the cartridges, especially the Rosewood.

As to humidity, the entire 1865 4.5 story brick townhouse based on a Calvert Vaux #5 design that we renovated and restored from top (the .5 floor attic that the audio room takes up [actually .3: 23 x 14]) to bottom gets fresh air 24/7 through an ERV conditioning system. If anything, the air is on the too-dry side. The entire room surface - walls and ceiling with rock wool and burlap, the floors with moroccan rugs - itself is acoustically insulated and is semi-anechoic.

I am not nearly as obsessive as many of the people in this group, but I have been at this for 56 years since I built my own Dyna 70 when I was 14 and I know where I am going (actually, I have arrived there, finally) based on a particular philosophical approach and my financial means.

See theaudioatticvinylsundays.com http://theaudioatticvinylsundays.com