Has anybody tried the Reed 3P?

I'm pretty sure the base of the Reed is made out of stainless steel. Aluminum would be much lighter. A stainless steel arm board would be real nice but would cost a pretty penny to fabricate. Steve Dobbins uses stainless steel arm boards on his latest incarnation of The Beat I believe. I made an armboard out of african blackwood which is one of the most dense hardwoods and it sounds quite good under my Reed. I may have a SS arm board made one of these days though.

Sean

Hi Nandric,

I once spoke with Joel Durand who makes the Talea and Telos tonearms and he was of the opinion that stainless steel is an ideal material for an armboard for his arms.

I imagine the Reed arm pod is quite good. Unfortunately I can not accommodate it because my TT plinth is large and my rack does not have room. I don't remember the price of the pod but I think it was pretty reasonable.

Sean

Lewm, Yes that is exactly what I was referring to. I noticed that the new Telos tonearm base is made out of stainless and is very substantial. There must be something to it. Also on the NVS they started with wood armboards then switched to stainless later.

Sean

Nandric, I don't pretend to know what is best either. I was just commenting on what some successful designers are using. I have played with constrained layer design in my plinth and armboard and I believe it works well. That said I am sure the Reed pod should work quite well. I personally prefer not to use arm pods because its too easy to knock them out of alignment unless the pod and TT are super heavy. If I were to use a pod I would notch out holes for the feet of the TT and arm pod in the TT shelf to stop them from moving around relative to each other.

Sean

Nandric, Which hobby should I consider? How about stamp collecting? No, I may get those wet from crying about having no music. ;)

I'm glad you're having success with your setup. Maybe I'm over thinking it too much.

I'm also really enjoying my Reed 3Q alot. Very easy to setup and adjust. It's not to picky about cartridges and sounds great. If the 3P sounds as good as Vetterone says I may have to give one a try.

Sean

Nandric, I was not aware that the headshells were interchangeable. From looking at my 3Q there are two screws to undo the headshell. One that adjusts the azimuth and one that attaches the pivot point. I would think that the screw that goes through the pivot point would be critical. I have not removed the headshell before but if its not installed with the right tork then I'm guessing the sound may be affected. Does Vidmantas specify a tork setting for this screw?

Azimuth adjustment at the headshell is nice but I'm personally more concerned with overall sound quality than the method of azimuth adjustment. If the 3P sounds better then thats what counts to me.

Sean

Nandric, Yes after closer examination it's just one screw that holds the headshell on. It appears that the azimuth adjustment screw is in a channel that just slides off after removing the horizontal screw.

Good to know that the azimuth adjustment at the headshell is an option on the 3P. I'm not that worried about it myself though.

Regards,

Sean

Wondering if anyone has received their 3P yet?

I have one on order as well. I was told mine is in the second batch of orders so I was hoping someone had received theirs allready.

There is a review of the 3P in a German magazine. I was able to translate it with Google translate. Most of the review is spent explaining its features. There was no direct or indirect comparison to any other arm. Maybe about one paragraph talking about sonics. The conclusion was that the 3P is among the best available. Personally I prefer more in depth reviews of audio gear but what are you gonna do?

Sonofjim, I have an Audio Desk Vinyl Cleaner and it makes spinning vinyl alot less hassel. It also cleans very well.

Sean