Introducing Myself

@supatrac Now that you have identified yourself as the maker of the SUPATRAC Blackbird. I have a few questions:

1. The thrust box is hung from threads connected to the center post. Do you need to assemble the thread or is it pre-assembled.

2. The tonearm mount seemed to be drilled from under the arm boards. Can you drilled directly from above?

3. Can you provide a SME adapter to your mount?

4. How extensively have you tested the arm with various cartridges? I am thinking of pairing it with a low compliant Koetsu. Any problem?

@twoleftears gives fantastic advice:

I suggest you look at a selection of audiotroy's posts to see how to do it wrong.

And a selection of atmasphere's to see how to do it right.

I don't think there's a way to add auto-signature. It's good practice to end every post with something like "Richard, Manufactuer of Supatrac".

Cheers,

Spencer

1. The thrust box is hung from threads connected to the center post. Do you need to assemble the thread or is it pre-assembled.

Normally the arm is supplied separated from the pillar. To install you have to connect the five electrical contacts in the pillar and insert the two hoist toggles into holes in the thrust box. Description and diagrammes of the installation process are available in the manual. I don't know if I am allowed to provide a link to that here but please contact me by the obvious means if you would like to know more.

2. The tonearm mount seemed to be drilled from under the arm boards. Can you drilled directly from above?

I have supplied bases with through holes. These are standard for Jelco/VPI/Rega bases, but if a customer requested through holes in a Linn-SME-type mount, that can be provided at no extra cost.

3. Can you provide a SME adapter to your mount?

Yes, the Linn base has six bolt holes. Three are 120 degrees apart for a standard Linn arm board. One of those joins the other three in forming two pairs at 30/150 degree intervals which clamp an ABS bracket under the arm board, compatible with an SME capsule-shaped hole. The SME spindle-to-pivot adjustment is slightly less than the full range but there is plenty, and it works well. Again, if you contact me privately I can provide images of this arrangement. In brief the Linn/SME base is compatible with both kinds of arm board.

4. How extensively have you tested the arm with various cartridges? I am thinking of pairing it with a low compliant Koetsu. Any problem?

The arm is designed for the widest range of compatibility with half-inch bolted cartridges. Adam at hifiaf.com is currently using a Miyajima Mono on one, a cartridge which has zero vertical compliance, and he has added half a kilogram of ballast to the arm to achieve the desired natural frequency. I have heard the arm with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature and a My Sonic Lab Eminent and I hope I'm allowed to say that all seemed to function correctly. One curiosity of the arm design is that however much mass you pile onto it, the load on the bearing barely changes, since the bearing is horizontal. You may need to tighten the hoists slightly, but that is a normal part of set-up.

I hope these answers conform with site policies - if they don't, please let me know and I will edit or delete them.

Richard, Manufactuer of Supatrac

1. The thrust box is hung from threads connected to the center post. Do you need to assemble the thread or is it pre-assembled.

I see that I did not fully answer this question - apologies. The hoists, their toggles, and bias apparatus arrive pre-configured and ready to go. Each arm is tested by actually listening to it (!) before sending out, so you should find that it is close to a correct set-up straight out of the box, but of course different cartridges have different heights and different compliances, so some small adjustment of the hoists and bearing may be required to reach an optimal set-up. The bearing mechanism can also settle a bit when first installed, so it’s important to keep an eye on it until you’re happy that nothing is changing.

Everything arrives as ready to go as I can make it, so for most people it is a surprisingly easy installation. If you read the first review at hifiaf.com Adam expresses surprise that installation was not as hairy as he had expected, and a customer in Germany was helped to install by a friend who is a dealer and who "dislikes" ’uni-pivots’, and apparently he was pleasantly surprised that there is much less back-and-forth during set-up than a typical uni-pivot. With some uni-pivot designs achieving reliable azimuth can be tricky as it depends on the position of the counteweight. In a SUPA azimuth is much less dependent on counterweight position because the hoist lengths are the main determinant of azimuth, so it's very easily adjusted with the supplied Allen key.

Good questions.

Richard, Manufacturer of SUPATRAC