Does Anybody Know This Tonearm?

It's the Magnapan Unitrac.Ask the man who has one.

Casey - Thanks!

Mitchell Cotter wrote a paper for AES back in the 1940's that described his idea of the perfect tonearm. In 1979, Jim Winey built it. It was called the Magnepan Unitrac 1.

It is a tonearm worth investigation because it is a sleeper in many ways. A currently manufactured tonearm that has many of its characteristics is the Spiral Groove Centroid.

A little touchy to set up?Come on it has VTA on the fly,that's half the battle.Ok you got me on that bucket of shot.Really the most negative thing I would point out is the tonearm cable which has a unique termination plug making life difficult when you need to replace it.

Love my Maggie arms! Great with high compliance carts.
That Amphenol plug(222-11N07) was discontinued in the 80's.
Not an easy item to find, but- in reality; it shouldn't ever
have to be replaced. I bought a couple extra arms, so I
could cannibalize one, make an adapter and
use
a Tricon Analog phono cable, instead of the old one. This
is the only supplier that I've found to have any NOS plugs
left(to the tune of $90+): (http://www.semiconductor500.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=23382&zenid=062191ae763593d8f853cd31b69cd84e)

I've been happily using a Magnepan Unitrac I for nearly 30 years, and I have no plans to switch to anything else in the foreseeable future. For the most part, I've used it with Grace F9E series cartridges, first the F9E, then the F9E Ruby, then the F9E Ruby retipped by Soundsmith.

BTW, the "logo" referred to in the OP is not actually a logo. On my tonearm the word "Unitrac" appears there, in black lettering on a light grey background. Apparently that label is no longer present on the arm that is pictured.

Regards,
-- Al

Hey Al- If you ever get the itch to go MC(and own a phono stage with enough gain): try a Dynavector 17D3. It's magic, on a Maggie arm.

Thanks very much, Al (Rodman)! I'll definitely keep that in mind for the future. Looks like its weight and compliance would make it an excellent match for this arm, in contrast to many other LOMCs.

Best regards,
-- Al

Hi Al- If you want a taste of what a LOMC can provide and have a phono stage that's compatible; I have a Denon 103D(same compliance as the F9E), already aligned in a Unitrac headshell. All you'd have to do is screw it on, plug it in, set VTF, VTA, azimuth and anti-skate. I bought it in 1982, but the stylus is still perfect(always cleaned it with Stylast) and the cart still performs beautifully. Not for sale, but- I'd let you take her for test spin.

Thanks much for the very nice offer, Al (Rodman), but I'll pass at this time. I'm using the phono section of a vintage Mark Levinson ML-1 preamp, accessed via tape outs, as my phono stage, and it is configured with low gain MM-compatible internal modules. I think I have MC modules for it packed away in a box, but they are unknown quantities at this point, not having been powered up since I purchased the ML-1 from a previous owner 28 years ago, and perhaps never having been powered up.

Also, I'm quite happy with the work Mr. Ledermann of Soundsmith did on my Grace cartridge.

I've been thinking of upgrading the phono stage at some point in the next year or so, perhaps to a Herron VTPH-2. I would probably address upgrading the cartridge at about the same time, and your recommendation of the 17D3 certainly looks like a good bet.

Thanks again. Best regards,
-- Al

Anytime Al- Happy Listening!