Howie, I suppose in that case you have to stop the platter. Same with my turntable. I don’t have any of those records and rarely play them. Good observation.
American Sound, "The Absolute Nothing"
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Howie, I suppose in that case you have to stop the platter. Same with my turntable. I don’t have any of those records and rarely play them. Good observation.
Here is David‘s response to another member in a thread dedicated to the SME 3012 R.
By the way, what arm would you use on this turntable?
I don’t think you’ll convince anyone that a 3012R is the best choice on a $100k+ (maybe $500k in this case?) turntable. I’m not knocking the arm, I’ve used 3010R and 3012R as my primary arm for the past 5 years. Like I replied earlier a ViV is better and also low cost. In the case of this turntable though probably best to just have Frank Schroeder design one like OMA did if ddk can’t do it.
I don’t think anyone has to convince the customers for this turntable about what arm to use. They can make the comparisons themselves without restrictions and choose the one they like most. As I wrote earlier, I think it will be interesting to see in five years or so which arms these owners decide to use. That is, if we ever see that data publicly.
If the AS 2000 is any indication, many of those owners are using the 3012R. Quite a few apparently had the SAT or Axiom or Graham. Interestingly, I’m not aware of a linear tracking arm on one of the American Sound turntables.
One thing we don’t discuss much is how well the arms are set up and the difference that might make in the evaluation.
Having watched David set up a number of these arms In my system and others, I have seen just how optimizing the set up does indeed improve those areas of natural bass reproduction, sense of space and scale, the very qualities for which David chooses that arm.
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One must do what the master says. I’m sure users of this table will get great sound with the 3012R. I’m just saying there’s a whole world beyond that they might be missing out on. And obviously ddk was going after aesthetics with this new table so why not have an arm that matches the same look? A wimpy 3012R looks totally out of place to me.
Well as it seems the table has 4 standard armboards , wonder why lol ?
At least 4 options can be mounted , im sure the people who can afford the design have a bit of spare cash to fill up the other boards as they please
Well as it seems the table has 4 standard armboards , wonder why lol ?
At least 4 options can be mounted , im sure the people who can afford the design have a bit of spare cash to fill up the other boards as they please
You also need to make the arm boards differently then, and do R&D to see what works what does not.
Sure but i assume the buyers of a TT like this are hardcore vinyl fans who kinda know what works or not .
It wont be the first TT / arm they have bought
.And with custom machining you can make anything fit i reckon
Sure but i assume the buyers of a TT like this are hardcore vinyl fans who kinda know what works or not .
It wont be the first TT / arm they have bought
And with custom machining you can make anything fit i reckon
most of TT purchases happen with what you hear and what you get. So if you get Techdas with the arm board they have got graham, you will find very few experimenting with tonearm material and tonearms
agree. and i wonder how many of The Absolute Nothing owners are guys who were gung-ho on pursuing and knowing about other top-level arms and doing their own set-up details prior? i'm saying i wonder about it, not that i expect that i know.
An interesting read is Tang’s system thread. He had the SAT, the Axiom, and the SME arms on various tables. He settled on one turntable and one arm for most of his listening. And I think this was after having the Axiom set up properly by its designer, though it might have been the SAT.
People can certainly have their opinions. The one that matters is that of the owner. It is kind of interesting to follow what other people do. That gives some kind of indication of successful pairings.
If the evidence of the AS 2000 is any indication, that turntable is placed in the context of very different systems. They are not all Lamm SETs and vintage horn speakers. Then again, that approach is popular in the parts of the world where some of these turntables may end up.
Rockitman has Pass Labs and Wilson speakers. Ron and Mike, who canceled their orders, also had different approaches. You can look up some of David’s turntable set up threads in his sub form to see images and descriptions of some of the other systems. There are different tonearms and a whole variety of gear.
I have an axiom and 3012RG on the same turntable. Whilst the axiom seems better built, the SME is more musical.
The SAT didn’t sound right on the AS at tang’s. It sounded right on the Techdas. Overall, I too did not find anything particularly better with the SAT Opus that was more musical. And staying with the SME seemed the logical choice. I don’t like the axiom either.
but that is like comparing a Devore or Martin Logan hybrid to XVX or Rockport. I prefer the school of Devore or MLs, does not mean there are not better speakers in that school of thinking. I definitely see no reason to buy a SAT over an SME, but there could be other arms, and certainly there is an arm cart synergy with no universal arm.
I would assume that customers for The Absolute Nothing are likely to buy into the philosophical approach to the high end that comes with it as well. This will limit ventures into pairing with other design approaches.
Assumption Al , if DDK had such a strict limited vision/ approach he wouldnt sell the TT with 4 armboards.
It only adds cost
They are all SME armboards.
Haha oh yes thats another story then.
But still i think on request anything is possible dont you think , customer is king
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