Tonearms

Ahh! I know I have you on the edge of your seat now!

  Turntables are mostly physics,and the tonearm of course transmits the electrical energy of the cartridge to the   output wiring/cables/jacks what have you. Many numerous schools of thought, and many factors involved- Mass? weight? friction? bearing type? suspensions? wiring? length?

  I will limit my discussions to arms I either have owned, still own, or have used.

  Bearing types- The most common would be

 Gimbal- either single or dual. These are the most rigid types- generally rings with bearings around the pivot point.

 Double knife edge- hardened steel knife-like blades that sit in a "V", much less friction, but known to "chatter" with really low compliance cartridges.

  Unipivot- the least friction of any, but relies on gravity to hold it in place. Probably the most fussy, and most difficult to set up.

  Air bearing- generally linear tracking, a pump is required to keep the geometry in place. I do not own any of these.

  Filament, or wire- a few esoteric types use this method,  have not owned any of these either.I do own a French table with a leaf spring suspension, there have been a few departures from the norm.


  Mass- A combination of weight and size.

  Low mass- works best with high compliance and light weight cartridges, generally not moving coils.

   Medium mass- a good bet for the majority of today's cartridges.

  High mass- best for low compliance or heavy low output moving coils.


   Compliance, by the way, is a measure of the cartridge's ability to respond to subtle undulations in the record groove. Higher is not always better, sometimes overkill.

  Length- most arms are about 9", many might argue the "transcription length" of 12" or more minimizes tracking error.

  Wiring, of course, is a given. Like any other part of your system, the better the wire used, the better the result. 99.9% pure copper, pure silver, gold, Litz, schmitz, the results are often different, but as a rule, the better the wire, the better.

  The following,then- is a tonearm extravaganza!