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Top linear trackers

I’m in the market soon for a linear tracking tonearm. Two in particular have piqued my interest, the Kuzma Airline with damping trough and the Bergmann Odin. From what I can tell, these designs have especially benefited from lessons learned during the evolution of linear tracking, incorporating features like longish tonearms to minimize warp wow, ultra low friction, low air turbulence, and mitigation of the high horizontal mass issue by use of a damping trough (not sure of the Odin on that). The Odin is known to have a very quiet pump. The lift on the Kuzma may be easier to operate. I would love to hear from anyone with long term experience with these arms or comparable other ones. I would be mounting this on my current VPI Classic 4 and most likely using my Soundsmith Sussoro Mark 2 ES. That cartridge should work with either arm based on the resonance calculations. Down the road I may consider moving the arm to a Sota Cosmos Eclipse or a Technics custom SP10R or another high value setup. I cannot afford the Bergmann Galder with Odin. If I could I probably would have reached the end of my journey.
earthtones

Showing 1 response by chowkwan

chowkwan
167 posts
 

Please no flamewars, just another datapoint. 

Versa 1.2 and VPI TNT 1 with 9" JMW arm with Benz LP sound the same. I was surprised expecting the Versa would outshine the VPI, but that was not the case. The Benz sounded wonderful in both VPI and Versa: very rich tonally which is my preference. LP is very detailed also but not as much as Goldfinger. Better than either is the Benz Gullwing which combines the lucidity of the Goldfinger with the calories of the LP letting you have your cake and eat it too. The cherry on top is that the Gullwing costs less than either LP or Goldfinger. There is no body like no body. Want to hear the new Ortofon Verismo which also has no body but the demand for that cartridge is high and I cannot get ahold of one. Always wanted an Ortofon. It is wonderful how these old companies continue to flourish: Benz, Clearaudio, Ortofon, Koetsu, Lyra, Kiseki. Of course nuttin' wrong with new companies. People can be so touchy.

(Comparing TNT with 9" JMW against recent Avenger with 12" printed arm again the same. No progress in twenty years, but both are great turntable/arms. In case you were wondering if the Versa/TNT comparison holds up after both types out of production since the last century.) 

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