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I need a fitting/appropriate tonearm for my Teres 340

I have a Teres 340 with an Origin Live Illustrious 3 tonearm. This was to be a "temporary" arm til I could do better.  But hey, It sounds pretty darn good. Though it sounds good as is, I think the TT deserves a better arm than the OL Illustrious. Maybe I'm being snobbish. Wifey says it sounds great. Leave it alone. But My heart says the Teres needs a better mate I have a Benz Ebony L cartridge. I've consideried the OL Conquerer which is a step up.  But It has no azimuth adjustment. The Reed is an interesting arm which has my attention. The  2 P has azimuth adj. But the 2 A doesn't. There are several Reeds on the market. Would rather have the 3 series. But the 2 is a stretch at this point. Any reed owners that would recommend it over others in the price range? Is the Reed a good match for the Teres 340. Unfortunately I have a limited budget and these seem to be withing the budget. I've seen a few SME V but I'm not sure they are a right fit.. Haven't seen a TriPlanar in some time. Still not sure its the right fit either. Then there is the Pete Riggle arm which may be good but the looks are not that good IMO.. Thoughts?
128x128artemus_5
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
765 posts
 
I should expand on my interest...

I'm kind of in the same boat. I've got a Teres table (cocobolo base, solid acrylic platter, Verus motor) and I'm currently using an OL Silver (mk II, I believe) arm. It would be easy to stay in the OL family, but candidly, I'm not thrilled with OL in general. Like you, I find the Reed arms interesting, but haven't read many first-hand testimonials on the 2 or 3-series (I'm also partial to the 3P or 3Q). I've thought about contacting Chris @ Teres about his tonearm and VTA adapter, but I'm not anxious to pull the trigger and, from a cost standpoint, I may want to stick to the 2nd-hand market. 
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5 OP
1,913 posts
 
Wntmute & Harold, I remember when that arm 1st came out. Reviews were quite favorable. I considered one for a scoutmaster. But I don't think I could ever come to like it on my TT because it would be such a clash of design, etc.. Tables which have a more industrial look may compliment it. I may have to read some recent reviews. Who knows, maybe I can get a wood grain kit and make the arm look like wood. That would be trick
wntrmute2's avatar
wntrmute2
188 posts
 
Funny, I think the juxtaposition of the wood table and polished aluminum arm with wire gantry would be way cool!  But then I like the steam punk look.
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5 OP
1,913 posts
 
nrenter, Does Chris still make the tonearms? I emailed him a few months ago when I had a slight problem and he was helpful in getting it resolved.  Bearing just needed an oil change. He said he was still in business but to a much smaller scale. There is really nothing on his site. Did you get the Versus motor from him prior to his closing down shop? Or have him make the motor as a custom Item after? It is the rim drive isn't it?

The only problem I have with the OL arms is their lack of adjustment. The Illustrious sounds good. It was speculated that this was the best bang per buck arm for OL. But there is a lot of good reviews on all of them. I remember when Teres had a list of recommended arms for their TT's. OL was on the list. Schroeder and Triplanar. But not SME IIRC. Again, the Pete Riggle arm is interesting and has all the adjustments one could want. He might even be able to make one out of cocobolo or ebony or something which would match the table. Western red cedar is the wood of choice because of the best specs according to Pete. Reed agrees. Here's an article from Reed.
http://www.reed.lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58:wood-vs-the-rest-testing-...

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rauliruegas
12,836 posts
 
Dear @artemus_5 : OL tonearm are good tonearms and in reality you are not dissapointed from it. Maybe makes more sense to do a change for a different cartridge. I like BM but inside its line are better models and out side there are several alternatives that can gives you a better system quality performance using the same OL tonearm.

You can put on sale your cartridge and changing it will be a real up-grade in your system.

Well, a change in cartridge is always a good alternative against a tonearm, especially because you are " satisfied " with.


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
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