I was an early adopter of Vic's arm also loved the sound but ultimately got tired of messing with the pump etc., so I went back to pivoted and could not catch the sound I had before with multiple tables and arms. I got all the way up to the Triplanars top 10" arm and it was very close then I came across the Thales products and found a Simplicity II at a decent price and now I have the sound I remember albeit at more of cost vs the Terminator. Great news it is back in production.
Trans-Fi Terminator Tonearm: 2019 Update
In reading a few related posts on linear tracking tonearm, in general, and Trans-Fi Terminator , in particular, I thought I would give a brief update of the Terminator.
I purchased the arm directly from Andrey in Moscow two months ago. From what I understand, Andrey has taken over production after Vic's retirement. What I received is the most up-to-date version of the arm with the carbon fibre wand and brass counterweights, the direct wire leads from cartridge to phono amp, and a new brass manifold ( not evident from the main web-site). Both the wand and the new manifold are Andrey's contribution to the continued refinement of the Terminator.
Also, please visit this site: https://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/terminator-tonearm-new-arm-mount/. This gentlemen from NZ has developed a new arm mount for the Terminator which advanced the arm's sonics even further. It was reading through the the development of this new arm mount that convinced me to order the Terminator after much prior research. I did not purchase the arm mount from NZ as it would not readily fit my Verdier La Platine, instead Andrey made a custom arm mount. It is in essence a two point support mount rather than a single point support rod that is commonly used.
My previous arm was a SME V of 1990's vintage mounted with a ZYX airy. The Terminator is several notch above the SME V. All the accolades given to the Terminator seem justified. My main point in writing is that the new developments by Andrey, i.e. the carbon fibre wand and the newest brass manifold, seem to improve upon the Terminator even more ( see link above ). This is the news that I wanted to share with existing Terminator owners. I asked Andrey to start a blog on all the new stuff that is happening with the arm, but it seems that he is busy making 'things'!
I purchased the arm directly from Andrey in Moscow two months ago. From what I understand, Andrey has taken over production after Vic's retirement. What I received is the most up-to-date version of the arm with the carbon fibre wand and brass counterweights, the direct wire leads from cartridge to phono amp, and a new brass manifold ( not evident from the main web-site). Both the wand and the new manifold are Andrey's contribution to the continued refinement of the Terminator.
Also, please visit this site: https://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/terminator-tonearm-new-arm-mount/. This gentlemen from NZ has developed a new arm mount for the Terminator which advanced the arm's sonics even further. It was reading through the the development of this new arm mount that convinced me to order the Terminator after much prior research. I did not purchase the arm mount from NZ as it would not readily fit my Verdier La Platine, instead Andrey made a custom arm mount. It is in essence a two point support mount rather than a single point support rod that is commonly used.
My previous arm was a SME V of 1990's vintage mounted with a ZYX airy. The Terminator is several notch above the SME V. All the accolades given to the Terminator seem justified. My main point in writing is that the new developments by Andrey, i.e. the carbon fibre wand and the newest brass manifold, seem to improve upon the Terminator even more ( see link above ). This is the news that I wanted to share with existing Terminator owners. I asked Andrey to start a blog on all the new stuff that is happening with the arm, but it seems that he is busy making 'things'!
Showing 4 responses by jtsnead
@ledoux1238 the Simplicity arm likes heavier cartridges it did not like much Ortofon Cadenza Bronze so I got a Air Tight PC7 and it works very well with the arm, constant sound quality for the entire record. I can here how a pivoted arm affects the sound on different areas of a record. I was using a good quality fish tank air pump I dont think that was the issue I feel the capalaries might of needed to be cleaned but I never investigated it and just moved on |
I was one of the original owners of the Terminator and worked with Vic all the way up to the T3. Went back to pivoted arms and could not accept the difference in sound, I finally looked into pivoted linear arms and have found an equivalent to the air bearing linear arms the Thales Simplicity II incredible sound comparable or better than the Terminator albeit at a cost |
See the link below to my photos you can see the PVC tube with end caps I designed for my Terminator over 15 years ago, it worked very well I had the filter after the surge tank before the arm. I never had issues with pulsing. I was one of the first people to ask for Eichman rca’s and direct line cables for the T3. I had Vic make silver leads with silver Eichman’s I do feel you have to take the arm off and clean it every year or so to keep it running optimally. @ledoux1238 yeas The new T3 is intriguing and I would of gotten one to live with again but the Thales does everything the T3 does and it is so much easier to swap cartridges. I will give a shout out to @dgarretson he helped me with a custom brass base for my T3 which helped in getting a firm foundation for the arm see below https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/3585#&gid=1&pid=5 |