Linear tracking turntables, whatever happened?


Curious as to the demise and downfall of the seemingly short lived linear tracking TT.
Just from a geometry point of view I would have thought a linear arm should be superior to one with a fixed pivot that sweeps through an arc.
Obviously there is much more to it than that, sort of the reason for this thread.
I am genuinely interested in trying one out for myself as well.
uberwaltz

Showing 1 response by edstrelow

I have owned only B+O linear trackers over the last 40 years and have been very happy with them.  Very elegant looking, simple to operate, no fiddling and extraordinary sound.  I started with the original 4000, I believe it was called.  I modified the arm to take a conventional moving coil cartridge and was very happy until the TT finally expired.

 I replaced it with a TX2 which has some issues,  due to its lightness but which were resolved with proper feet and the use of sorbethane as damping on the body and even the platter.  Sorbethane is much underated because it is widely misused.  I use small , thickm dense sorb, glued in place and covered with layers of tape so that it acts as  'constrained damping.'  This makes it far more effective than the usual sorbothane footers. 

The B&O cartridges are no slouch  With the TX2 I bought the second most TOL model  that B&O sold and find it more than a match for my older moving coil.