The What Tonearm Are You Using Thread

MylesBAstor

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'Young Skywalker, commented "The ability to adjust SRA at the headshell (aiming for groove compliant SRA and not some arbitrary figure of 92 degrees) is a nice feature as long as it does not compromise rigidity".

Could a member explain what groove compliant SRA is and how do you achieve it?

I think he's referring to, especially in the early days of stereo LP mastering, there being no industry standard for VTA/SRA. I think VTA values of 15-22 degrees were commonly used. Ergo the need to adjust the arm for different LPs.
 

jn229

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I think he's referring to, especially in the early days of stereo LP mastering, there being no industry standard for VTA/SRA. I think VTA values of 15-22 degrees were commonly used. Ergo the need to adjust the arm for different LPs.

Thank You, Myles
 

Lotus

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BEAT with Reed & Talea II





 

MylesBAstor

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mep

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BEAT with Reed & Talea II


The geometry of the cartridge setup on the mounting plate and the way the mounting plate is attached to the Talea arm looks so wrong. The mounting plate should be flush to the 'headshell' part of the tonearm and it's hanging down which means there is minimal contact between the screw, the mounting plate, and the headshell portion of the tonearm. Something is very wrong.
 

audioarcher

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The geometry of the cartridge setup on the mounting plate and the way the mounting plate is attached to the Talea arm looks so wrong. The mounting plate should be flush to the 'headshell' part of the tonearm and it's hanging down which means there is minimal contact between the screw, the mounting plate, and the headshell portion of the tonearm. Something is very wrong.

Probably just an optical illusion. On the Talea, the cartridge plate needs to be turned to have the right offset angle.
 

rockitman

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The geometry of the cartridge setup on the mounting plate and the way the mounting plate is attached to the Talea arm looks so wrong. The mounting plate should be flush to the 'headshell' part of the tonearm and it's hanging down which means there is minimal contact between the screw, the mounting plate, and the headshell portion of the tonearm. Something is very wrong.

Looks fine to me. I can't even imagine a setup at this level being setup wrong. I am sure the sound is glorious, plus he's using the Allnic HA3000/H5000 DHT phono combo. Vinyl playback doesn't get much more pure and real than that setup.
 

jazdoc

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Lotus:

That is flat out gorgeous. I'm sure you will enjoy many wonderful hours of music!

mep:

That is the way the Talea and Telos attach the cartridge to the arm. It uses a single screw rather than the typical slotted headshell with two screws. Initially, it's a little counter-intuitive but once you get used to it, set up is really quite easy.
 

mep

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Lotus:

That is flat out gorgeous. I'm sure you will enjoy many wonderful hours of music!

mep:

That is the way the Talea and Telos attach the cartridge to the arm. It uses a single screw rather than the typical slotted headshell with two screws. Initially, it's a little counter-intuitive but once you get used to it, set up is really quite easy.

Mark-I understand the single-screw concept. What I don't understand is why the basic geometry of the tonearm is so far off that you have to have a special mounting plate adapter in order to place the cartridge into the correct alignment. I have seen this tonearm in person as well as in numerous other pictures and I have never quite seen a setup like the one above. At best, I find the interface between the Talea arm, mounting plate, and cartridge to look very odd, but that's just my opinion of how it looks. Most cartridges when mounted to a tonearm have a very solid interface with the headshell and they almost appear to be as one. Not so with the Talea. It usually looks like someone was trying to sling a grasshopper under the arm and mount it instead of a cartridge. The above picture takes that to a whole new level. Optical illusions or not, the only place that mounting plate is making contact with the headshell is where the screw is coming through the plate at the very front. If people want to argue that is a great way to mount a cartridge I would love to know why.

Mind you, I'm not commenting on how this arm sounds because I have only heard it once at RMAF when JTinn had it mounted on the NVS with the damaged bearing. The sound with the damaged bearing was bad enough that JTinn elected to not play music through it for the duration of the show which was quite understandable. I would like to hear a well-setup Talea just to see what it really can do. You just don't see them much at RMAF or Axpona.
 

mep

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Probably just an optical illusion. On the Talea, the cartridge plate needs to be turned to have the right offset angle.


That's one hell of an optical illusion. The back end of the mounting plate appears to be hanging down 1/4" from the bottom of the headshell.
 

jazdoc

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Mark-I understand the single-screw concept. What I don't understand is why the basic geometry of the tonearm is so far off that you have to have a special mounting plate adapter in order to place the cartridge into the correct alignment. I have seen this tonearm in person as well as in numerous other pictures and I have never quite seen a setup like the one above. At best, I find the interface between the Talea arm, mounting plate, and cartridge to look very odd, but that's just my opinion of how it looks. Most cartridges when mounted to a tonearm have a very solid interface with the headshell and they almost appear to be as one. Not so with the Talea. It usually looks like someone was trying to sling a grasshopper under the arm and mount it instead of a cartridge. The above picture takes that to a whole new level. Optical illusions or not, the only place that mounting plate is making contact with the headshell is where the screw is coming through the plate at the very front. If people want to argue that is a great way to mount a cartridge I would love to know why.

Mind you, I'm not commenting on how this arm sounds because I have only heard it once at RMAF when JTinn had it mounted on the NVS with the damaged bearing. The sound with the damaged bearing was bad enough that JTinn elected to not play music through it for the duration of the show which was quite understandable. I would like to hear a well-setup Talea just to see what it really can do. You just don't see them much at RMAF or Axpona.

Hey Mark --

I'll admit to not understanding the physics. I can only judge the design results with my ears; and for me it's wonderful. The great thing about Joel is that he is always experimenting and trying new things as seen by the development of the Telos. Hopefully, you can make it to the Pacific NW someday and have a listen.:D
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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It would seem that Tonearm designer's are getting away from a) the Fixed headshell and b) The more rigid the attachment of the cartridge to the headshell the better.
This is something that doesn't make sense to me either....:confused:
 

JackD201

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That's one hell of an optical illusion. The back end of the mounting plate appears to be hanging down 1/4" from the bottom of the headshell.

There's a notch in the plate. From that angle it does look like a space. ;)
 

jazdoc

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Here is a crappy iPhone photo of the Telos

image.jpg
 

mep

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Mark-It's hard to tell from your photo, but it does appear that your mounting plate is making much better contact with the underside of the tonearm than the other setup I commented on.
 

Lotus

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The geometry of the cartridge setup on the mounting plate and the way the mounting plate is attached to the Talea arm looks so wrong. The mounting plate should be flush to the 'headshell' part of the tonearm and it's hanging down which means there is minimal contact between the screw, the mounting plate, and the headshell portion of the tonearm. Something is very wrong.


Hi, its just a wide angle lens thing ... an illusion also enhanced by the fact that the top of the beginning part of the wand also rakes upwards at an angle.

The mounting plate is completely flat flush to the wand and secured tight. The overhang and azimuth are perfect, it sounds delicious .... very different to the Reed 3p.
 

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