"oldskool" tonearms

Dear Dazz: I can't speak for other " vintage tonearms " lovers but I can speak for my self:

+++++ " Are these tonearms better than most of the contemporary siblings? " +++++

My answer: absolutely, yes.

+++++ " Do these audiophiles like them because of their (oldfashioned) sound? " +++++

There is no " oldfashioned " sound on them, there is only " right sound ".

+++++ " Or because the fact that they are very difficult to get nowardays? " +++++

No, I don't think so.

Let me to explain my answers:

- From my 18 tonearms, 14 came from Japan and all these but one ( Ikeda ) are " vintage " tonearms. The other ones: one from USA and three from Europe, two " vintage " and two current models.

- In the great time when the japanese were the leaders on the manufacture of tonearms, this people were the best of the best building a mechanical device like a tonearm and they make their design, almost always, not only with full skill/love and know how but with a great creative effort. ( I'm not saying that today designers have not that creative and skill for make tonearms ). In that time they really have to be " the best " because each manufacturer had a great ( in quality and quantity ) competition.

- Take a look for example, SAEC : its patented double knife Edge bearing design, its pipe itself is constructed of a special light alloy, a byproduct of French aeronautical technology, and their high-purity / high density headshell ( ceramic ) are unique in the tonearm industry.
Micro Seiki: the Gyroscopic bearing of the MAX 282/237 IS A TOUR DE FORCE AND A UNIQUE BEARING DESIGN.
Lustre GST 801: the variable magnetic flux type stylus force application system and its variable magnetic flux type anti-skating mechanism along with its vibration-proofing of stainless steel arm pipe and its high precision radial bearings, makes this tonearm one of the great ever made.
Dynavector DV 505: Its unique Bi-axis system ( horizontal magnetic type ) and the double damper method ( inertia controlled dynamic damping plus electro-magnetic damping type ) shows the creative brain of these people.
Technics EPA 100 MK2: Its unique variable dynamic damping shows the creativeness on the tonearm design along with an extremly stable 4-point gimbal employing ruby ball bearings with a friction of less than 3mg for movement in any direction and the use a metal pipe alloy of boron and titanium. Extremly hard to beat.

Satin AR-1S: The best unipivot ever made. Period.

I can talk and talk about those great great!! vintage tonearms, other like: Ortofon RS 212, Fidelity Research, Audiocraft AC 4400, Sumiko The Arm, Mission The Mechanic ( the only tonearm build from a single piece of aluminum. Not casting like the SME V/IV ), Stax UA-7, Denon Da 401, etc, etc.

I own all these tonearms and I owned some of todays tonearms and I can say that with my cartridges in my system nothing can beat them and you can have some of this superior tonearms for a fraction of the today tonearms price.

And let me tell you something: almost all my tonearms are still with its internal original wire, just imagine how could be improve each one when I change this internal wire !!!!.

I respect to all designers but nothing that I know can beat those tonearms at any price with any kind of design. It is not only my opinion: read what Tom ( a person that I highly respect ) post here about the MAX 282 against the Triplanar. Btw Tom, I have all the diferent arm wand on my MAX 282, what a tonearm!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Dazz: I owned the EMT 997: excellent. I owned the SME V and I own a SME IV, Moerch DP6 and I forgot : the Koetsu SDA 1000MK2.

Many people think that I'm a collector tonearm, but I don't: I have all these tonearms first because they are really great and second because in this way I always can match in the right way almost any cartidge that I own or will owned. I own these tonearms because of my cartridges. Till you find the right tonearm for a cartridge you really can't know how good is that cartridge.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Anthony: The Audiocraft AC 3300/4400 in fact is a dual point. It is a very good tonearm and better than the Graham 2.2 , this one take the Audiocraft design for its own design.

As unipivot the Satin is at the top ( extremely hard to find ), with the Satin practicable the tonearm link dissapear: free of colorations/distortions. The Moerch unipivots are very good ones too and have the advantage that you can change the effective tonearm mass for to match it with almost any cartridge. From what are out there on today unipivots my vote is for Moerch but I never try the Phantom.

Dear Astock: You Alphason tonearm is a very respected one and a " vintage " one for sure.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Anthony: Good luck on your Satin hunt. I owned the RS-A1 too, it had many interesting " things " ( like the headshell design ) but overall it is not a " great " one unipivot.

Btw, why your love for unipivots?

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Michael: I owned the ET and Dennesen linear traking tonearms and I had the opportunity " to play " with the Air Tangent.

I really like this technology but I prefer the pivoted tonearm music presentation: solid and very well balanced, with the linear tonearms ( and least that was my experience ) the frequencies extremes sometimes where softed. Now, there is one characteristics where the linear tonearms really shine: soundstage, I don't know any pivot tonearm that can beat it.

Another reason is that the linear tonearms need to much " room " for set-up and it be dificult to install with other three tonearms in the same TT.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear michael: Go a head for the MAX 237. Don't wait.

Regards and enjoy the music.
raul.

Dear Doug: There are many subjects about the high quality of those " vintage " tonearms, one of them is that almost all were manufactured more than 20 years ago and are in perfect operational/performance conditions: bullet proof!!!!

Nice to see that you find this post: " a really valuable and informative ".

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Daren: Both tonearms are a good ones and both work better with low-medium weight/medium-high compliance cartridges.

That price is on the high side: 250-300 dls will be a good deal and fair.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.