Tonearm ranking

Tango

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Mar 12, 2017
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Wow amazing. Just through sheer set up, no additional cost of components. I forget... Is your SAT Opus on the same table?

SAT Opus is on Kronos.
 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
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Congratulation Tang,
i am really happy for you,you have the top of analog
 

Tango

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Mar 12, 2017
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Congratulation Tang,
i am really happy for you,you have the top of analog

Gian my friend,

I like to eat different kinds of food. Italian, Spanish, Japanese, French, Thai, Indian, etc., when they cook well any of them can be best in different occasion. So as tt, arm, cart setups.

Kind regards,
Tang
 

tima

Industry Expert
Mar 3, 2014
5,777
6,819
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the Upper Midwest
Today Dietrich the Axiom tonearm guy came to redo my setup of Axiom/Palladian. He did his things while I was having meeting most of the day. An hour ago I entered the room to listen. The sound is now excellent. This combo is now playing on the same level as my SAT combos, but with different tone. More body than Opus and Coralstone on SAT. High extension is not as good but more majestic in bottom end. Energy, pace, resolution and innerdetail are all here now. He changed armboard to a new one and gave me titanium headshell screws. When I left the room, He was measuring distances and dimension of my EMT and said he could customize the Axiom to fit my 927 from the rear :).

View attachment 37726

Tang

Nice photo.

That protractor is neither a Uni-DIN nor a Smartractor. Does DB have a new alignment tool?
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
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I am curious if anyone has directly compared the Acoustic Signature TA-9000 with any of the top arms being discussed.
 
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Tango

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Mar 12, 2017
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I am curious if anyone has directly compared the Acoustic Signature TA-9000 with any of the top arms being discussed.

TA-9000 maybe even rarer than other arms mentioned here. I only see owners of Acoustical Signature turntable use TA-9000. Two Invectus in Thailand came equipped with these arms. The owners of these Invectus also dont have arms that are mentioned here. There is not much info about it available. How do you like it on your Ascona?

Kind regards,
Tang
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
TA-9000 maybe even rarer than other arms mentioned here. I only see owners of Acoustical Signature turntable use TA-9000. Two Invectus in Thailand came equipped with these arms. The owners of these Invectus also dont have arms that are mentioned here. There is not much info about it available. How do you like it on your Ascona?

Kind regards,
Tang

It is stunningly good in my room with my system but I don't have much to compare it to on that basis. I am considering getting a second TA-9000 because I want to us a second cartridge. The Atlas can be a bit bright on some recordings although it is an incredibly revealing and dynamic cartridge on the right recordings. I was just looking for some relative comparisons of the TA-9000 on the same systems.
 

Argonaut

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2013
2,380
1,617
530
N/A
Considering one of these,

http://https://audio-creativeshop.nl/product/audio-creative-groovemaster/

Titanium arm model natch.
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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This is what guyser had with the etsuro urushi in the horn mentioned in my DIY horns report
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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No idea. Will have to compare it to his fr64s at some point
 

advanced101

VIP/Donor
May 3, 2017
247
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233
I just ordered one of those GrooveMaster II arms in Titanium. Interested in how it will mate with Koetsu.
 

Vahe Sahakian

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2018
6
2
108
Out of curiosity what is the ranking of SME 3012 series II, I have one new in box that is at least 30 years old and I don't think that I will ever use it. Currently I am using SME 3009.
 

Pepe57

Well-Known Member
Jan 25, 2014
90
20
115
Milano Italy
Hi all,

Feel free to rate the tonearms in the following buckets based on your experiments. Will give something to muse over

1. Sonics for playing classical LPs while playing with neutral, dynamic carts, like Ortofon A90
2. Ease of mounting
3. Ease of adjustment (VTA, SRA, swapping carts, etc).

The tonearms are: Durand Talea II, Da Vinci Grandezza, Thales, Schroeder LT, FR66s, Ikeda 407, Air Tangent 10b, Kuzma Airline, Kuzma 4P, SME 3012.

Additional comments welcome. While ranking you can also add in parentheses next to the arm the carts you have experienced them on
Hi Ked.
I think it is very difficult to answer (especially to the first point).
When i use a tonearm on a turbate with a cartridge and i find it is very good in a system, i am not really sure i will have (for some aspects) the same result with another system (when i say system i mean: hifi equipment and room).
So in my opinion the final listening beeing influenced by so many elements must be mediate among different listening in different systems.
In so many (sob!) years of trying and listening i really never decided wich was my preferred tonearm allways.
:)
Ease of mounting... i think perhaps VIV, Durand, Triplanar (and also others of course).
Ease of Adjustment: i think perhaps Versa, Eminent Technology, Graham Phantom.
:)
 
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advanced101

VIP/Donor
May 3, 2017
247
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Did you try the Groovemaster with Koetsu? If so, which Koetsu and how well did the combination work?
I had a bad hum and had to sell the arm. For $2500 I can't imagine a better tonearm than the FR-64S for a Koetsu.
 
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