TT, 12" Tonearm. Who tried and ended up preferring 12" arm?

MICROSCOPE.

Final, repeat, FINAL part of this step up is to get a Microscope to really see Stylus.

What power is enough? Too much is too shallow focus depth I believe.

I see units that clamp on cell phone cameras, ...?

USB to computer?

If you want to see it just like a re-tipper can see it then you need a USB microscope. 

But i'm fine with macro lens for iPhone when i'm taking pictures of my cartridges, here is the one with unused stylus (NOS FR PMC-3) 

Best way to see it is a binocular dissection microscope. You get much better depth of field this way.  

If you have a problem with using a dust cover and it is not just in your head it is because your turntable and/or dust cover are designed incorrectly. In either case you get inferior sound particularly if your turntable is in the room with your system. 
The Dust cover can not be mounted to the platform carrying the platter and/or tonearm. The SOTA Cosmos is an excellent example of a turntable beautifully designed for a dust cover. The dust cover is mounted to the external chassis. The sub chassis is suspended inside with the platter and tonearm mounted to it. The SOTA sounds better with it's dustcover down because all the other sound in the room is attenuated over 20 db. The platter, tonearm and cartridge are better isolated from the environment. With the SME there is no external enclosure to mount a dust cover to so I sit the turntable on a platform to which the dust cover is mounted. The dust cover does not touch the SME.
If you have an unsuspended plinth to which the platter, tone arm and dust cover are mounted the dust cover may transfer some vibration at resonance frequencies to the active parts of the turntable making things sound worse. These tables and designs like the VPIs and Clearaudios need to be set on a platform to which the dust cover is mounted then you will improve the sound with a dust cover and prolong the life of your records, tonearm and cartridge. 
This is obvious and the case unless you hear micro vibrations like lewm.
In which case your system is always going to sound lousy and you might as well give up and play cricket.  

That was funny.

Time to throw out all my vinyl replay gear obviously then and grab myself an old ipod and set of earbuds.

I hate cricket...….

Disaster

Dual Arm TT with tt81 and UA-7082 arm arrived from Canada severely damaged.

Box was a mess outside, clearly had been dropped. I had driver note box condition, opened it.

3 legs snapped off base, those plastic legs broken into pieces, two big gouges in top edges of wood base, dust cover corner snapped off. Arm, cartridge, din cable, transformer all ok.

Took damage photos, called UPS 20 minutes after it got here.

UPS picks it up today, does local damage inspection within 2 days, then UPS contacts the seller to process a damage claim.

It was properly packed IMO, but it had a serious fall somehow.

Got my eye on 2 others, but, need refund!!!

Ouch!
Sorry for the disappointing result.
Unfortunately all too common with UPS.
I swear they could break a rubber ball!
Good luck in your renewed search!

Probably the seller have no idea how to pack for international transit. Everything must have been disassembled, turntable must have been wrapped, the best way is to use macroflex spray between the box and the wrapped turntable, this is the best way to protect everything, this macroflex liquid foam (when it's frozen) hold the turntable tightly, so it does not move in the box at all, great protection even for a far longer transit than Canada to USA. 

Make claim with paypal, open the case on paypal for this transaction, send it back for full refund, paypal will cover return shipping, this is buyers protection. 

 

meanwhile, I just bought this one (also from Canada. He assures me it will arrive unharmed).

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649579421-victor-jvc-tt-81-high-quality-quartz-lock-turntable-with-fidelity-research-tonearm-reduced/

It has 9" Fidelity Research Arm on the side, and a rear hole, presumably for 9", which is where I will put the Lustre GST-801 arm that arrived in wonderful condition.

Exact distance? I'll deal with it.

refund: it was found on canuckaudiomart, not eBay.

1st, $1,000. insurance from UPS. Then try PayPal for the $104. not covered by insurance. If the money goes to seller, and he refunds me via PayPal, then PayPal might refund me $46. it charged me to send the money. Then, perhaps my Credit Card linked to PayPal will kick in something. I could end up making money.

member 'Oracle' Preference: Tonearm Effective Length 12-3/16" (308mm)

found a very interesting old post about TT,

http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=58779&hilit=ar+arm+rega+conversion&sid=38d8985ef898716a0a955d54dcf969f0&start=120

.................................

pg 9, from member 'Oracle' about the preference for Total Effective 308mm (12-3/16") Arms

Re: Some Thoughts on Turntable Design

• Quote

Post by Oracle_309 » 18 Jun 2013 15:53

"My thoughts:

first thanks to jraudio for his comments. In many ways I couldn’t agree more. Of course in some ways I may disagree, but those are due to personal experiences outside of the normal "audiophile" experience ;)

Regarding the subject of wow and flutter, it has been suggested that the eccentricity or improper location of the spindle hole of a record effects the total W&F more than most motor drive systems (that is, the centre hole location of a record in regard to the grooves of the record). To me this makes sense, but as I do not have the technology available to actually measure this I cannot confirm nor deny this.

Regarding the comparisons of different length tonearms from the same manufacturer, jraudio’s approach is right on (at least in my mind). There is a difference to the effective tonearm mass and that difference can have a profound effect on the calculated resonant frequency. Adding dampening is a stop-gap solution at best. Was it Einstein or Feynman who suggested that (usually) the easiest solution is most likely to provide the best solution to a problem? Ideally NO dampening should be used, so material selection for tonearm construction must consider dampening and rigidity properties. Differing geometries of tubing can also have a profound effect (such as single or double butted tubing, tapered tubing, solid beam or shaft, I-beam, etc.) on both of these qualities.

The cartridge/tonearm (materials and bearing), internal wiring, electrical connectors, physical coupling of the stylus to the cartridge body (whether direct as used in most moving coils, or indirectly as used in any customer replaceable stylus types), physical coupling of the tonearm mount to the plinth or sub-chassis (dependant on whether or not the turntable has a suspension or not) and phono pre-amplifier must be considered as a system, not as isolated parts. This is one of the reasons some people end up with something that simply sounds way better than it should (particularly if the complete system is somewhat "budget" or even terribly price matched. Please remember that it is not the amount of money being spent as an indicator of suitability but performance, this cannot be overstated) or conversely. I’ve heard many expensive turntables (for that matter many expensive complete systems) that have failed to thrill, while many much less expensive systems shine.

I make simple (but I think well performing) tonearms (but not commercially) and can attest to differences in the sound of different lengths, but I choose to make tonearms in the 308mm effective length. My reasoning is pretty simple. Here’s a list:

• proper alignment, or rather finer adjustments to the offset angle are easier to perform
• my material of choice has an effective mass of approximately 12 grams in this length
• my material of choice is incredibly stiff
• my material of choice is a simple, non tapered tube
• I use Grado cartridges almost exclusively (whether you like them or not is not the concern here, but most modern ones have a mass of 4.5 grams and a compliance in the 15-20 x10-6cm/Dyne range). The match of 17 grams effective weight (including headshell, wiring and cartridge screws), a compliance of 15-20 x10-6cm/Dyne and the 4.5 gram cartridge mass results in a resonant frequency of approximately 8-9 Hz

I have considerable opinions (again not verified by measurement but by purely subjective experiences) regarding the design of suspension systems, drive systems and the use of plinth materials. Just a preview: I do have a preference for all of the above, but this is not to say that there are not excellent examples that are contrary to my preferences."

linked to user name

http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/gallery/image/24663?sid=38d8985ef898716a0a955d54dcf969f0

Oh Boy, I did it, Black Bird from Russia,

longest 12":, actually effective 12.5", 317mm.

Wonderful, but not easy, my comments here:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/12-1-2-arm-newartvinyl-black-bird-yea-or-nay

Long arm quest led to large plinth, let to 2 arms, led to both mono arm/cartridge and stereo arm/cartridge ready and waiting,

Thanks again to everyone's help, I couldn't be happier!

Elliott

@elliottbnewcombjr

Did you ever end up purchasing a dust cover from jnb audio?  If so, are you happy with its quality?  I want a new cover for my Thorens

I did not, my final TT came with a very nice condition factory cover.

I would write them, they probably already have made one for your model, might have Cad Drawing and Photo of it.