Comparison of sonic qualities of some tonearms


I’m relatively new to the world of vinyl, listening seriously for probably only 2 years.  Of course, many big picture items (e.g. turntable, phono stage, cartridges) are discussed extensively on this forum, but I haven’t seen much discussion comparing different tonearms.  I would be interested to hear about different people’s experiences with different tonearms, mentioning the audible advantages and disadvantages of each tonearm, realizing that there is no perfect sound, although from what I read about others’ experiences, SAT tonearms may come closest, albeit at a very high price.  

drbond

Space junk scares me more than electromagnetic pulses.  It has taken out more actors in space suits than even the Alien.

@mijostyn Can I rephrase your comment.

"I am projecting you are inflicted with the same level of obsession I do or don't know I am suffering from as a disease."

I myself can't project how much of a disease is present in another from witnessing the end product of their use of a keyboard.

I can see enough in the content of the written information to be aware that the disease has a influence on certain individuals.

For the record for the past few years the largest proportion of my listening to a dedicated audio system is a result of attending social get togethers.

I am not locking myself away in a room, avoiding life and family experiences, being a nursemaid to a unbalanced interest and even possibly a unhealthy interest.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@tomic601 

I have to ask… why not evaluate both arms w same cartridge ? note, i am a fan of both Kuzma arms… and have decent seat time w both.  

it was the electromagnetic pulses. 

 

Seriously, neither one of us wanted to go through mounting and unmounting both fancy cartridges twice. And I've since found that the Zyx Uni is not happy on the Safir so it wouldn't have yielded much benefit anyway. The Zyx can't seem to track very well on the high mass arm.  Franc Kuzma says it shouldn't matter but apparently it does. 

 

I do miss the 4 point especially for the headshells and I'm setting up my old turntable mainly so I can make use of that tonearm. To be honest I was surprised at the distance between the two arms. But that's what I heard. 

@lewm Thanks for the note. I mistakenly thought you were talking about azimuth. Since I use a LT, it’s not so much of an issue for me - assuming that the cantilever is straight, which is a lot more obvious and a lot easier than azimuth.