An interesting story [possibly apocryphal] about Jack Rabinow, the inventor of the Rabco Linear Tracking Tonearm : While traveling on a train, Jack went to use the restroom and was intrigued by the sign, "Please Do Not Flush While in Station", and when he returned to his seat he began figuring out a way to disable the flushing function of the toilet when the train was standing still. He took some wire coat hangers and twisted them into a device that did exactly that ! I guess that kind of thinking was the same that went into the original Rabco tonearm ! I owned one for a few years and even tweaked it with a balsa wood replacement tonearm but never was happy with its clunky performance. A Revox b795 and a Technics SL-10 were next in line and both were good TTs, but it wasn't until I mated a Souther Linear Tracker to my Garrard 301 TT that I finally realized my "Audio Nirvana". A Lyra "Helikon" cartridge is supremely happy with the arrangement. On very rare occasion the "tonearm/trolley" that holds the cartridge and runs along two parallel quartz rods will hang up and require the rods to be swabbed with alcohol to correct the problem. I see no other TTs in my future --------- .
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.
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.