New Jelco Tonearms

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
437
168
350
San Diego area
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2017/08/new-jelco-knife-edge-type-tonearm.html?m=1

I'm surprised no one has mentioned these yet. I think they deserve serious consideration, not only for the affordable cost levels, but for the new knife edge vertical bearing, the choice of static or 'dynamic' balance, and Baerwald geometry. The latter has the advantage over most other past and current Japanese arms, such as Ikeda and FR, which have a bizarre geometry requiring twisting the cartridge in the headshell to obtain more conventional alignment like Baerwald or Lofgren B.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,347
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
Very interesting! Thank you for starting the thread.
 

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
437
168
350
San Diego area
Very interesting! Thank you for starting the thread.

Most welcome. Another advantage benefits SPU users. Perfect Baerwald alignment is possible with these arms, whereas any reasonable alignment of SPU with Ikeda or other Japanese arms given their very strange geometry is impossible to achieve since obviously the SPU cannot be twisted. For instance, if you try to setup an Ikeda 407 with SPU, you cannot find a single null across the record. You have to play with the pivot to spindle distance to find any sort of compromise.
 

zog

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2013
20
1
133
This might be a decent upgrade - the 750D is already no slouch.
 

defride

VIP/Donor
Mar 28, 2013
307
199
1,185
Anyone had a chance to hear these yet? Seen any comparisons to the 750s?
 

defride

VIP/Donor
Mar 28, 2013
307
199
1,185
The release of these arms was delayed due to some production issues. Mine is scheduled to ship next week so I’ll report back.

Great, best of luck, look forward to hearing your thoughts.
 

daytona600

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2012
724
151
955
scotland
20171130_115657.jpg

Technics SL-1200GR turntable, fitted with a Jelco TK-850S tonearm
 
  • Like
Reactions: rau

zog

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2013
20
1
133

RaceDoc

Well-Known Member
Sep 11, 2017
34
25
125
Germany
Hi miniguy and daytona600,

any news on sonic quality of the new Jelcos?
 

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
437
168
350
San Diego area
TK-950L dynamic balance arm has landed. A beautiful arm, beautifully constructed. Getting it setup on my TW Raven AC. Will report back soon.
 

zog

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2013
20
1
133
Looking forward to it miniguy. I had a poor experience with an Origin Live Conqueror - this may be 'The One' :->
 

Bso

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2016
98
18
138
Massachusetts/Toronto
Some critics used to complain of the "knife edge chatter" of the 80s SME and SAEC arms. Was this ever cleared up? Was it due to another reason?

Does anyone know why Jelco came out with a knife edge bearing?
 

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
437
168
350
San Diego area
Initial impressions of the new TK-950L: this is one sweet tonearm. It presents a large and deep stage with great detail, fast transients and an overall presence that draws you in. Midrange exudes great clarity, and the top end is very smooth. Noteworthy is a very articulate and deep bass. So far only played my SPU A95. Two minor quibbles - it would have been nice to have a mark for the horizontal bearing center on top of the bearing housing, and the VTF adjustment knob is fairly coarse so it takes a little time to dial it in exactly where you want it. I bet this arm will hold its own in comparison to many more expensive arms. I think it represents one hell of a bargain.

BCB3BC1E-EA97-4B04-86F5-C4DDA9316BAD.jpg
 

kevinmi

New Member
Dec 29, 2017
4
0
0
These look a lot like the Ortofon tonearms. I cannot find any info on these except what I've read here. Any links to more info would be much appreciated. I'm running SA 750 arms on both my Oracle turntables, and might be catching the upgrade bug.
 

daytona600

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2012
724
151
955
scotland
Ortofon are made my Jelco & many others
Koetsu, Sumiko, Audioquest, Linn, Oracle, Ariston, Roksan, Revolver, Mission , Graham. Denon, Pioneer, Trio Acoustic Solid, Transrotor

Jelco to develop new singing arm products are TK-850S 9-inch and TK-850L 12 Inch net balanced balance arm, and TK-950S 9-inch and TK-950L 12-inch dynamic balanced tone arm. The four tone arms all adopt the ideal bearing design pursued by many "enthusiasts" - the bearing bearing shaft! This unique bearing shaft is actually used in the classic model of SME and SAEC. However, the newly designed Jelco shaft More attention than before, the blade selected industrial steel casting, to avoid sliding for a long time to bring the loss, coupled with the roof of the V-shaped pit and the blade position than the previous design of the other arm spindle broader swing Coverage, more evenly on the force, completely solve the need for some manufacturers to adopt the "double knife axis" support type support method, it will not use the double knife axis and constitute too many pivot points, thereby increasing the resistance!
Knife axis to give the record in the album to move the level to obtain the best tracking force. The two sets of bearings responsible for horizontal tracking, Jelco is more for this new tone arm masterpiece, each element, and even each small axis of beads are all Ichikawa staff's effort!

TK-850S and TK-850L are knife-axis net balance design, and TK-950S and TK-950L two addition to superb knife bearing, it is more balanced attitude design, so that different types of singing can be the most accurate Acupuncture data and tracking performance. Four tone arm after the re-? is a new design, the re-head can be two parts of the first telescopic telescopic shift, so that there are more important points to re-adjust the need for acupressure acupressure.
Four new singing tongs can be used for different sonic / acupressure range from 17 to 35 grams (with a shell meter), even the Ortofon's SPU or EMT's TSD shell integrated singing head can easily grasp, the user does not need Troublesome matching problems, which affect the overall performance of the vinyl system.
 

miniguy

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2013
437
168
350
San Diego area
These look a lot like the Ortofon tonearms. I cannot find any info on these except what I've read here. Any links to more info would be much appreciated. I'm running SA 750 arms on both my Oracle turntables, and might be catching the upgrade bug.

The similarity to Jelco-manufactured ortofon arms as well as previous Jelco branded arms is restricted to the anti-skate mechanism, queuing device and mounting collar. Everything else is new design.

B4DCFCA0-1132-4756-9DB6-E13AFA4A8A37.jpg 443DD203-4D6F-41D8-B522-0AD1DDB57F09.jpg 9D7200C7-8CC1-4EFA-955A-5337B7062397.jpg
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing