Frank Kuzma is releasing a new arm!

@lewm , given the performance of Soundsmith's sapphire cantilevers I can believe that opinion or fact if you will. It is the thinnest cantilever I have ever seen and looks like it would snap with the slightest misstep but, I have already had one that would have definitely snapped a boron cantilever and the Soundsmith survived in perfect condition. Weight is another factor. Carbon fiber has become a popular arm tube material because it is stiff and light. The sapphire does not appear to be so light. Perhaps Kuzma designed it specifically for his cartridges?

@dover  well, that makes perfect sense. Sounds like a REALLY stable arm doesn't it? What happens when an arm designed to lower tracking force as it elevates hits a warp? Why do you think the counter balance weight of the 4 points is so low?

You are right, I have no idea what I am talking about. I did not have your post deleted because I want everyone to know what kind of f-up I am.

@lewm , no, you can't entirely divorce inertia from mass but it does matter where the mass is. 

@fsonicsmith , stiffness of the arm tube is a very important characteristic for a tonearm and many of the best arms use wider diameter arm tubes. Certainly, the days of arms like the Infinity Black Widow are over. It does seem to me that if you are using a very stiff substance like sapphire you should be able to get away with a thinner lighter arm tube but there may be a problem manufacturing a smaller tapered sapphire tube. Frank Kuzma is no dummy. If he could have made it lighter he would have. He obviously had to compromise by making the arm a bit shorter. I think it is a good looking arm for what it is worth. Does it offer any advantages over arms like the regular 4 points or the Reed 2G, Schroder CB and Tri Planar? Set up correctly I would probably not be able to tell the difference and I would have to notice a difference to spend that kind of money. But, nobody has made a sapphire tonearm before so, this is another Kuzma first.

@dover, You have your tonearm geometry mixed up. The SAT arm is a stable balance arm. In other words it will always return to the same balance point after a period of oscillation. VTF changes with elevation. The 4 Point is a neutral balance arm. It will stay in whatever position you put it in. VTF stays constant regardless of position. Yes, the new arm is a heavier arm which means it is limited to cartridges that are on the stiff side. There are plenty of those. As it is very short, shorter than a Rega arm it's moment of inertia is low in spite of the mass which is more important than EF. It's major failure is it's price. Would I buy one? Certainly not for a Lyra Atlas.