What defines a good tonearm


I'm in the market for a very good tonearm as an upgrade from an SME 345 (309). Most of the tonearms I have used in the past are fixed bearing except for my Grace 704 unipivot. I dont have a problem with the "wobble" of a unipivot, and they seem the simplest to build, so if they are generally at least as good as a fixed pivot, why wouldnt everyone use a unipivot and put their efforts into developing easier vta, azimuth and vtf adjustments, and better arm materials. Or is there some inherent benefit to fixed pivot that makes them worth the extra effort to design and manufacture
manitunc

Showing 1 response by sarcher30

Hiho,I auditioned the Talea 2 last week and it uses magnets to adjust azimuth. So it's not totally free floating either.

It was in a system completely foreign to me but from what I can tell it had a lower noise floor than what I am used to with my setup. Pops and ticks were less noticeable. I am using a VPI Classic 1 with stock arm now. I did bring my phono stage with me so I negated one variable.