Yes, The Kuzma 4 points in general. I think the 4 Point 9 is the best of the lot. Schroder CB and LT. The Reed 2G. The SME V and V12, The Tri Planar. Some of the origin Live arms are excellent. I just got a Schroder CB and will report on it when I get it set up. The Turntable is no where in site yet. Donna says "weeks away" :-( |
My first really good arm was the Graham 2.0. Later upgraded to 2.2. A lot of the reason for getting it was, besides the sound, the detachable arm wand that came with a jib that enabled super precise and simple cartridge alignment. Because back then I had fallen for a lot of the BS repeated endlessly around here to this day making it sound like cartridge alignment is darn near impossible without spending more on alignment jigs than you have in your rig. That's no exaggeration. Just last week someone used a kilobuck jig to mount a $200 cartridge. Anyway, two points to this story- one, there's more to it than sound and some arms do make this harder than it needs to be. The other point is I eventually learned the harm all those connections do to the delicate cartridge signal. My next arm was the Origin Live Conqueror, an arm with no connections but the cartridge pins thanks to its hard wired phono leads. Never again will I buy an arm that requires I also buy an interconnect. At the level of an arm like the Conqueror a guy could easily spend several grand on the interconnect alone. Been there. Done that. No thanks. |
The Basis Vector 3 which I owned was a great tonearm. I really made me aware of the importance of high quality tonearm. The current tonearm on my Garrard 301 is an Ikeda IT 407 CR-1. A great match with low compliance cartridges in particular Ikeda cartridges. A worthy successor to the Fidelity Research tonearms. |
Schröder Reference but with the neutral balance bearing geometry and all the fine adjustment options used on the SQ. It needs them too and a sensitive touch on the various locking screws. The music can come alive but the sweet spot is pretty narrow. I’d love to hear how an LT compares, though my Artemis doesn’t have room for one. How are the two pivots linked? Before that was a Naim Aro, used n an Elite Rock without the damping trough and a Rega 300 used with the trough. |
I have the Audiomods Series III with the bead-blast finish and the micrometer VTA feature Jeff has some great new arms that perform even better and are longer (10.5") than the more "regular" length arms www.audiomods.co.uk Jeff is a great guy and takes into account the TT that it is to be installed on - sometimes making a custom mounting plate for certain TT's His work is amazing and the final product is exceptionally well built He does take a few weeks to make it - mine took about 6 weeks Last arm I'll ever buy - Steve |
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@yeti42 , The LT is genius. There is an arm under the platform attached to the horizontal bearing axis so it moves with the tonearm. At the end of this arm is a small round neodymium magnet. Under the lift platform is another magnet which has a crescent shape. As the tonearm moves towards the center of the record magnetic attraction keeps the tonearm pointed in the right direction staying tangent to the groove. The real beauty of the design is that it is driven by fiction in the groove pulling the stylus and thus the arm forward. There are no skating forces at all. The only downsides are that it is not a neutral balance arm and it is impossible to get the vertical bearing down at the level of the record. The CB is a perfect pivoted and offset tonearm. The vertical bearing is down at record level and it is a neutral balance arm. Anti skating is frictionless magnetic. Effective mass is adjustable from 12 to 19 grams In the 9" version. The question is which one is better the CB or LT with it's trade offs. |
Anyone have experience of the Alfred Bokrand modified Ortofon AS 309? |
Dear @ml89009 : best tonearms? not an easy question with out its cartridges couple. In the other side could be good first than all to define the characteristics that and " ideal " tonearm must has to at least have a reference against we are comparing to. I for example we ask to thiose audiophiles that already posted : why the Basis Vector or the Victor 7045 are the best could be interesting their responses about. Only an opinion, have fun. Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS, R. |
The references I use are LPs that I recorded. I have the master tapes and know what they sound like. I've used a number of arms at home and at shows; the one that consistently gets everything right is the Triplanar. It has the hardest metal bearings available on any tonearm. One thing nice about the Triplanar is you have some ability to adjust the effective mass of the arm. This allow you to use a wider range of cartridges. It is the ability of the arm to track the cartridge correctly that is the most important! VTA can be adjusted on-the-fly. Azimuth is adjustable. The arm bearing is in the plane of the LP (provides for more consistent tracking pressure with warp or bass modulation). The arm tube is damped so it does not talk back to the cartridge. I have found the SME12" to be excellent as well as the Kuzma 4-point. |
I just upgraded from an Origin Live Silver to an Origin Live Enterprise. Same cartridge. Same tonearm cables. The difference is staggering. I’d love to have a tonearm or cartridge designer explain the technical reasons for the easily-audible improvements (other than it allows the cartridge to better track the groove). |
I have two Garrards, a 301 and 401 and use New Zealand - made tonearms on them. The 301 (on solid macrocarpa plinth) has an Analogue Instruments Siggwan arm made from cocobolo wood and brass bearing housing. The 401 (on solid pine plinth) has the Wand Master carbon fibre arm from Design Build Listen. The Master version has adjustable VTA. It’s a bit of a fiddle to set up - just set it up with one cartridge, sit back and enjoy. I have a Dynavector XX2 Mk2 on it, the Wand brings it alive. I’ve had the XX2 on other tonearms as well, the Master is definitely a good match for it. The Siggwan on the 301 is also a unipivot and has direct tonearm wiring from cartridge to RCA plugs. I have an Ortofon 2M Black on it, it has become my go-to MM setup. |
I am also using Reed 3 p arm. will that work with etna sl and van den hul? @ml89009 Reed 3p available not only in different length (from 9’ to 12’ inch), but with different wood (arm tube) which change effective mass significantly. It depends what wood type and which length you have! Effective mass stated for each type individually on reed.lt website. |
I highly recommend the Kuzma 14" 4 point. I'm quite surprised that a couple of guys listed Kuzmas as among the worst (though the 14"er was not on that list). I also agree with an earlier post which stated that it hard to evaluated a tonearm alone. The pairing of a cartridge will have a significant impact on performance. Naturally, the turntable, itself, is also of major import. that is why it is so difficult and complicated to set up a proper analogue rig. ...and then there is the phono stage, not to mention the preamps, amps, and cables. Oh, I forgot to mention how crucial a proper setup is to maximum (or awful) performance. As indicated, I use the 14" 4 point Kuzma and it is attached to the Kuzma Stabi XL DC turntable (their newest and top of their line), with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge. The sound is spectacular. It is played through a complete Naim Audio 500 Series system, about to be upgraded to the Naim Statement next month. |
www.designbuildlisten.com/ The Wand Plus 10.3 wrangled onto a 1980's Linn Sondek |
Surely 'the best arm' is the one that best suits the cartridge that you are using and the turntable it is mounted on? The 'best arm' for a high, medium and low compliance cartridges will be different? I've had an SME V, Helius Cylene, Terminator, and RB 600, with various cartridges. I now have an Ikeda CR 407 with and Ikeda 'Kai' mounted on a Merrill Williams 101.2, which is my favourite combination, to date. |
You didn't mention a budget. For $2K and under, Rega makes the best arms for the dollar. It's not even close. RB3000 ($2200), RB880 ($1200), even the BR330 at $600 will outperform ones that are several times the cost. They also have a super expensive one made out of titanium not available for a standalone purchase that comes with their super rare/expensive Naiad that was used as the basis for their high end tables. Above that, I leave it to the big spenders who patrol AG. I know there is an interesting one for $4K that doesn't touch the plinth from Integrity HiFi in Canada. Only found out about it because I bought a Tru Lift arm lifter from them. They swear it makes any cartridge sound great. Conceptually it makes great sense to have total arm isolation with no motor or platter noise or vibration. Anyone ever try an arm totally separate from the table? |
Such an odd & open ended topic - I’m hesitant to participate. No one has mentioned AMG. LP12 guys should take note of their 9” versions. A very capable tonearm that is not a massive affair - excellent for suspended ‘tables like my ‘64 Swiss built Thorens TD150. One of the easiest tonearms designs to dial in. The “Turbo” (marketing) versions are fashioned with thumbscrews making most tools unnecessary. Poorly executed owner’s manual (sheet). The SME Series V is my go to when I really want to get a feel for how a typical MC pickup really sounds. Really like the 11.5” Kuzma 4-Pt and 12” Stogi S and appreciate the elegant simplicity and performance of the better metal wand (Steve Lueng built) JMW unipivots which beg for Wood Bodied Benz and a gravity tilt for A/S. Yes, the Graham 2.2 is a serious contender, but a bit fiddly to setup. Much improved performance over the Original 2. Sad to see Jelco go out. Their TK850S is surprisingly good. Never played with Schröder & Reed or Fidelity Research & Ikeda or Basis Vector - all of which are held in very high esteem. |
