Opus 3 tonearm

I've heard a couple, both fitted with Musicmaker III carts, but in unfamiliar systems, so it's hard to say what effect the arm was having in relation to the other components.

I thought the imagaging and detail resolution were very good, there was a good sense of "air" and my only reservation was I thought that bass guitar wasn't quite as incisive and in time compared to say a modded Rega.

It looked really cool and I understand that it's not too difficult to set up. Reviewers in Europe are getting very excited about the Cartridge Man's Conductor arm (admittedly twice the price of the Opus). Two reviewers whose opinions I respect (Ed Barker and Geoff Husband) are rating it as their current favourite.

IMO the big selling point of the Opus 3 arm is that the guy who developed it is passionate about recording live music with all the natural ambience of the venue and he was able to compare vinyl replay with the Opus 3 to the master tapes when developing the arm.

I'm definitely going to try a parallel tracker at some stage - but I think my first step might be the diy Laadegard arm.

Hi Flyingred
Thanks for the insights. WRT the modded Rega, which cart/arm setup was used? I'm trying to get some point of reference here.

I've seen the Conductor arm and yes, its a very interesting arm, tackling the same problem with a different approach, quite innovative. The arm is virtually frictionless on the horizontal axis.

What's this Laadegard arm? Never heard of it.

The reason for my interest is that I'm going to be getting the new Scheu DPL 2 table, so I'm currently investigating alternative 2nd arms.

I thought the Opus 3 was great, because
(1) it didn't need a pump,
(2) simplicity in design, almost maintenance free

Drawbacks might be the finicky cart mount, and I'm not certain what range of carts are suitable to pair with it. So far I've only read/seen MM carts used, not a single MC. Could there be any issues here?