Hello there.
I've used a Studio/T3 for a while now, and had no big problems. One of the motors went in the arm (excuse me, 25 years?) and was replaced (Goldmund Europe still has them at very expensive $300 a pop). Granted, I'm rather handy and can take that arm apart and put it back together with my eyes closed. I also make my own belts (don't feel like paying $55 to $75 for a piece of rubber). If you are not technically inclined, perhaps another arm will fare better.
Mine is a very early unit, especially prone to lifting of the arm during play, but I was able to isolate the problem. First, the belt pulley system must be working right with correct adjustments. Too loose or too tight and it will stop pulling. Once this is done it will stay OK for a long time. Second, STATIC charges in dry air will put pulses thru PL-6 controller and will cause arm to lift during play or to lower at rest (which is dangerous as the motor will pull arm towards the platter and may destroy the stylus if you don't stop it in time). After I grounded everything including the subchassis and the motor, and installed some capacitors in PL-6 it worked fine. I also use a computer AC line conditioner, as AC spikes will also cause the arm to lift. Very primitive system, but sounds real good.
I must agree that later versions are more user friendly, but Pabst motored/wood bodied early versions sound best to me. As to JVC motors, they were not as good as Pabst in my opinion, used by JVC in their turntables of not very high quality. Power supply for those motors is nothing but a wall wart. Goldmund still has parts for them, but pricewise, is it worth it? In any case, early versions easily bring $2500 to $3000 these days, and a late (all metacrylic base) Studio/T3F arm with PL-8 controller just sold on E-bay for $5100 (!) I'm sure a large part of market value is it's collectibilty. You can probably get a modern table for a lot less that will sound just as good. Opinions vary though, as Arthur Salvatore still puts Studio above most tables, on par with Verdier, Ariadne and Versa. I personally like the synergy between Goldmund Studio and T3 arm. They have a very robust, dynamic, midrangy and transparent sound with very strong bass, but I have also heard SME V on it and it was just as good, if not better. So unless you can get it really reasonable, and if you are handy, I would stay away from that arm. I have kept an early Studio with no arm for over two years strictly as a spare for my Pabst unit, but it keeps on going strong, so I just sold the spare on Audiogon yesterday. I heard Studio with ET-2 arm and was not impressed - very "light" sound, but I was never impressed with that arm anyway. Interesting arm to try on it would be that Air Tangent copy, MG-1, offered on Audiogon at ridiculously low price. Ask away if you have any more questions. Cheers, Mark
