Rabco SL-8E Tone Arm

Nandric, I believe the "watchmaker" of whom you speak was Herb Papier, the eventual inventor of the Triplanar tonearm. I think Herb used to tell me of his adventures with the Rabco. The Rabco was invented and built here in the Washington, DC/Maryland area as well, by an engineer named Rabinow. (Hence the name of the tonearm.) Herb was a watchmaker by trade (or more likely a watch-repairer), before he got into the crazy business of hand-made tonearms.

Dear Nicola, If I am wrong, then so be it. It was just a guess based on (i) the fact that both tonearms were invented by and originated from persons who resided in this geographical area (Maryland, near Washington, DC) by guys who must have known each other (I believe Rabinow was deceased by the time I met Papier), and (ii) the indisputable fact that Herb Papier was a watchmaker who was very conscious of bearing quality, too, by the way. Anyway, if the correct answer is "David Shreve", I am glad the OP will be in good hands. In the 70s, I remember regarding the Rabco as an object of desire but not real craving, I think like you because it was so out of sight expensive.

At a much earlier age, the lasting image for my lifetime is that of an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spyder Veloce pulling away from our car at a stop light, on a cool summer evening in Connecticut, and blasting off into the countryside. I was too young to drive at the time, but my destiny as a car-lover was sealed right then. I later owned a Duetto and several other Alfas and just about every Porsche 356 variant up to and including a 550 Spyder, but never have I found the right Giulietta Veloce. Oh, and I dreamed of women too, but no tonearms.

Oldears, That was the classic TOTL set-up back in the early 80s, a TD125 with a Rabco SL8E. The sight of it in an audio salon (remember those?) used to provoke a case of envy in me, back then.

The thing is, in reality the Rabco is a pivoted tonearm, not really a pure SL type, because it must pivot in order to activate its servo. Once this was pointed out to me, I lost my mojo for it. Never owned one.

Is having equal vertical and lateral mass a part of the definition of a linear tracking tonearm? I would not think so. I guess you meant that it is one of the best SLs you've used, because of the low lateral mass, as opposed to any air-bearing SL tonearm which will have a high lateral mass. I have seen the issue of lateral mass argued both ways, high is good; high is bad. I have no dog in that fight. I think high vs low has to do with whether you use a high or low compliance cartridge, but could be wrong.

Dover, You wrote, "The Dynavector arms use the same electromagnetic horizontal damping to counter the high horizontal mass in their biaxial design."

Actually, the DV tonearms are some of the pivoted arms I had in mind when responding to Ralph that do deliberately employ high effective mass in the lateral plane, as you say, but do you view the magnetic device as a way to "counter" high lateral effective mass or as a way to dampen resonance in the horizontal plane? There is a distinction to be made. I always thought that it was to dampen resonance. I've got a DV505 and am a big fan of it.