Recommendations for automatic tonearm lift


I am considering an automatic tonearm lifter for a Sota Sapphire with a Rega 700 tonearm. Any recommendations / comments? Many thanks in advance for any input.

128x128rbanathy

I have a qUP on my VPI Scout II and it works flawlessly. For $29 it’s a bargain. 

Pindac, the tapered Little Fwend is roughly 3/4" wide at its base. I have mine sitting against the tonearm’s platform on my VPI Classic 2. That leaves about a 1-3/4" space remaining between the Little Fwend’s tapered base at its widest point and the turntable’s platter, an easy fit. The arm on the Little Fwend, that the tonearm touches to activate the lift, extends out a little further, maybe another 1/2", to within 1-1/4" of the platter, again an easy fit.

You should be able to extrapolate those dimensions to see if it would fit your turntable.. If I recall, more exact and metric dimensions are available on the Little Fwend site. Little Fwend also has an extensive list of compatible turntables at https://www.littlefwend.com/list-of-compatible-turntables-for-little-fwend

Mike

I used the “Little Fwend” on my VPI Prime for over 6 months. I could never get it to work consistently. The tone arm would either bounce back to the middle of the record after hitting the trip wire or nothing would happen when the tonearm hit trip wire. It looks wonderful.  But, I could never get it to work. 

@kenrus From what you’re describing it sounds like you should double check your antiskate, leveling of your table or both. 

Yeah, that’s kind of weird. Just the slightest touch and the lift lifts. Mines never malfunctioned even once. You should contact Little Fwend’s site and see what’s up with that. I’d be curious to hear what they’d have to say.

Mike