2. analog
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Tonearm adjustments on the fly

I've looked in the archives, but as yet I have yet to find a devoted thread on this topic. I was wondering which tonearms allow for easy adjustments of VTA, SRA, azimuth, and such on the fly, i.e. without having to go through a lot of effort to make changes, like unscrewing a tonearm from the mount in order to raise the tonearm, etc. I know that Reed tonearms allow for this, but what other ones do?
washline

Showing 2 responses by rauliruegas

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rauliruegas
12,848 posts
 
Dear @washline  : At the end all those VTA on the fly mechanism in tonearms are fine for tiny VTA adjustements but when you need not so tiny VTA adjustements then you need to fix too the AZ, overhang and even could be the VTF. So what's the deal down there?

R.

R.
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rauliruegas
12,848 posts
 
Dear friends :  The overall VTA issue is a neccesity a must to have for any cartridge set up. 

What we have here is if at the fly is a compromise that could goes against the cartridge QLP.

""  what does it take to engineer in VTA on-the-fly and is it a compromise somewhere?

with the Rockport it was not. but now that would be a $300k-$500k turntable with that arm. it was hugely overbuilt. but that’s what it takes at the top of the food chain. i’m not an engineer,   ""

Exist different tonearm manufacturers engineering levels and each one of them with different way of thinking on their tonearm designs.

We all know about Rega tonearm that comes with  absolutely no VTA adjustment ( only by after market mods. ) and if you ask or read Rega white papers they have very good reasons for that.

Now here an unmatched ( till today ) tonearm engineering levels that a member of the Japanese giant Matushita group manufactured through Technics. The EPA-100:

http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-EPA-100.html


but that is not the star in the Technics tonearm designs but its big bro  EPA-100 MK 2 that came with the best ever tonearm VTA mechanism ( no compromise one. ). The MK2 used Boron/Titanium in its arm wand and headshell ( here B with Al. ). Yes we read BORON the same material used in top today cartridge cantilevers and for very good reasons, I would like to see today a tonearm with all boron build material. This is the engineering level I'm talking about:

https://soundgate.net/product/OTY0.highend


That tonearm was coupled with the Technics SP 10MK3 turntable that you can see here if browse through the pictures:


http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-SP-10MK3.html


The same VTA mechanism was shared by the Technics EPA 500 where exist at least 2 versions: one with straigth arm wand and one with S shaped.

I owned all and still own two of them. Here you can see the S shaped named EPA 250A:

https://soundgate.net/product/ODEw.highend


and here the straigth one where we can choose ( in those times. ) arm wands with different effective mass:


https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/260271-fs-technics-epa-500-tonearm/


As I said: engineering levels, the name of that issue " game ".

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Btw, all those Technics needs an internal rewiring for today better quality materials.







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