Klaudio Tangential Tonearm

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Peter Cheon, founder of Klaudio, showed me in Seattle the latest version of his very interesting tangential tonearm. It looked complex and it appeared to be exquisitely machined.

I am told that Peter spent a great deal of time and resources developing and perfecting this tonearm. Peter told me directly that his company machines all of the parts to build the tonearm! That is great because he does not have to worry about outside vendor quality control.

This tonearm project clearly is a labor of love and passion for Peter. It looks like a mechanical work of art!

(I cannot help but wonder how it compares sonically to the Schroeder LT tonearm.)



https://klaudio.com/category&path=62




3950886D-C6B2-4E89-A991-F8BE263F42C7.jpg



4CE7371D-3FA4-47A7-BEDC-DE121398B7D0.jpg
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
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Canberra Australia
This does look interesting as the dual arm arrangement has been tried before, but some engineering effort has gone into this
The laser projector looks most intriguing

It’s weird how this seems so hard to implement in playback in an engineering sense

Yet cutting lathes have had this for a long time, but they are driven by power amplifiers, here we are going in the opposite direction

I wonder if anyone has heard this arm

Issues of rigidity, and chatter of such a complicated system, make the engineering trade offs of non perfect alignment questionable
 

jtinn

Industry Expert
Apr 20, 2010
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This does look interesting as the dual arm arrangement has been tried before, but some engineering effort has gone into this
The laser projector looks most intriguing

It’s weird how this seems so hard to implement in playback in an engineering sense

Yet cutting lathes have had this for a long time, but they are driven by power amplifiers, here we are going in the opposite direction

I wonder if anyone has heard this arm

Issues of rigidity, and chatter of such a complicated system, make the engineering trade offs of non perfect alignment questionable


All points seem valid, until you listen to the arm. It really sounds terrific!
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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Anyone tried the Reed 5T tangential arm?
 

GMKF

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Aug 15, 2017
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boy that's an impressive feat of engineering...
and boy do I want one...
 

GaryProtein

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Jul 25, 2012
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The KL Audio arm reminds me of the Garrard Zero 100, circa 1970.


NOTE: I DIDN'T say it was just like the Zero 100, only that it was reminiscent of it.









 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
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That’s great if they have succeeded

I love the idea of a good linear tracker
 

Pb Blimp

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Oct 30, 2017
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I looked at a couple of the tangential type tonearm designs (this and Thales) before deciding on the TA9000 and I just could not get comfortable with the long term prospect of the groove continually applying any extra load to the stylus. Even if perfected at inception, too many factors could negatively impact performance over time as the arms interfaces wear ever so slightly and friction coefficients change. It seams like you are inviting load variations against the stylus that will do more harm than the benefits of tracking error improvement relative to a well designed, traditional 12 inch arm. Of course I have nothing to back this up other than fear and physics.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Two more photos of the KL Audio tonearm:


Klaudio_Tonearm2.jpg



Klaudio_Tonearm3.jpg
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
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La Jolla, Calif USA
There are so many areas for loss of rigidity and chatter in that design, it basically amazes me that it sounds good at all. Having not heard it I cannot comment on the sound, but it is almost the antithesis in design of what should sound good.( By the looks of it).
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Coolest looking arm ever and the price looks right !!!

I, too, think it is the coolest looking arm I have ever seen! It looked to me like standard SME/Ortofon bayonet type mount.
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
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Canberra Australia
I agree there, Christian! I, too, think it is the coolest looking arm I have ever seen!

+1

Great photos, and looks like serious engineering

Having said that, I will be amazed if it sounds better than say a Kuzma 4 point, as it seems the antithesis of structural rigidity and low vibrational modes, but I haven’t heard it, time will tell once it’s in the field

A comparison with other reference arms would be most illuminating such as 3012r and 4 point, and FR66

What is it’s mass, and what type of cartridges are suitable?
did I read correctly u need to use bespoke headshells, it’s not an sme style mount ?
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
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My God, what a beast!
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA
Peter, just so you know, those are not my photos. I posted studio photos of the tonearm I received via e-mail from Klaudio.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA
Yes, I was lazy. I should have written "the photos that Ron posted." I still think they seem to show the arm mounted on an NVS. Perhaps Jtinn is a dealer.

You were not lazy. I just did not want inadvertently to imply that I had taken the photos.

The tonearm is indeed mounted on a Wave Kinetics NVS Reference turntable.
 

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