Axiom Tonearm with Arche headshell aligned using Smart Tractor

audioblazer

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May 13, 2010
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Yesterday I have the privilege to have Dietrich Brakemeier , the owner & designer of Axiom tonearm to demo his arm at my place .
For analog lover 1 of the biggest headaches is to set up catridge properly . I used to buy mintlp whenever I change tonearm & so far have a few mintlp . V accurate . However a pain to use with a handheld magnifying glass held by unsteady hand trying to see the null points. parallax error & the tiny tip at the end of the stylus. Smart tractor to me is heaven sent . Effective length is easily set with something similar to feirkert protractor which I have as well. There are a couple of curves to us & there is 1 Din curve which is unique to this protractor & according to Dietrich the most accurate. With the magnifying scope set on the protractor itself , seeing the tiny weeny stylus tip is a breeze . In my book a must have tool for every analogy lover. Retailing for Euro 495
Axiom arm is pretty welled engineered . Most arm if I m not mistaken do not stay still at any static position , there are 2 weights at the back of the arm in which u can tune such that the arm stays still . The VTF can be set statically by moving counter weight or by dialling in the dynamic setting . From the 3rd photo above it is the protrusion at the left of the arm tower . 6.5 turns with Allen key is equivalent to 1mm. This give owner options to play with the VTF setting & determine which is the best sounding . It seems certain SME & Breuer arm has this feature as well
Another unique feature I noticed is the levelling of the arm base by playing with the 3 screws at the arm base. Bubble provided . He seems to think of everything. Even the manual is so well written & the tonearm travel bag superb looking
The headshell is another unique feature of the arm where we can easily set the VTA/SRA by loosing a tiny screw with spring at the tip of the tiny screw. So well thought off.
Sound ? Of course much better than my Raven 10.5 ( for sales ) at 4 times it's price ie euro 15800 retail. Much grander scale , dynamic and the bass seems to go down 1 octave lower . My 2cts worth of opinion & observation.
 
Last edited:

audioblazer

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May 13, 2010
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Correction . There is anti skating adjustment in this arm
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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I was impressed by the Axiom's flexibility at CES on the Feickert table and the arm's ability to support, accommodate and get the best out of any cartridge out there. I still do wonder if there's not a small price to pay for all those knobs and weights.

Hey if the Axiom sounds 1/2 as good as it looks, it's sure to be a winner! :)
 

audioblazer

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May 13, 2010
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Tested it at another high end system . Was told it sounded fantastic & prob the best my friend has ever heard in that system. This friend of mine is so conservative that he is hardly taken in by any hype . After the session , he & another friend is negotiating a deal. If my friend is so taken , it's a confirmation I need . The arm will be in my system
 

rockitman

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Sep 20, 2011
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Northern NY
View attachment 15132

View attachment 15133

View attachment 15134

Yesterday I have the privilege to have Dietrich Brakemeier , the owner & designer of Axiom tonearm to demo his arm at my place .
For analog lover 1 of the biggest headaches is to set up catridge properly . I used to buy mintlp whenever I change tonearm & so far have a few mintlp . V accurate . However a pain to use with a handheld magnifying glass held by unsteady hand trying to see the null points. parallax error & the tiny tip at the end of the stylus. Smart tractor to me is heaven sent . Effective length is easily set with something similar to feirkert protractor which I have as well. There are a couple of curves to us & there is 1 Din curve which is unique to this protractor & according to Dietrich the most accurate. With the magnifying scope set on the protractor itself , seeing the tiny weeny stylus tip is a breeze . In my book a must have tool for every analogy lover. Retailing for Euro 495
Axiom arm is pretty welled engineered . Most arm if I m not mistaken do not stay still at any static position , there are 2 weights at the back of the arm in which u can tune such that the arm stays still . The VTF can be set statically by moving counter weight or by dialling in the dynamic setting . From the 3rd photo above it is the protrusion at the left of the arm tower . 6.5 turns with Allen key is equivalent to 1mm. This give owner options to play with the VTF setting & determine which is the best sounding . It seems certain SME & Breuer arm has this feature as well
Another unique feature I noticed is the levelling of the arm base by playing with the 3 screws at the arm base. Bubble provided . He seems to think of everything. Even the manual is so well written & the tonearm travel bag superb looking
The headshell is another unique feature of the arm where we can easily set the VTA/SRA by loosing a tiny screw with spring at the tip of the tiny screw. So well thought off.
Sound ? Of course much better than my Raven 10.5 ( for sales ) at 4 times it's price ie euro 15800 retail. Much grander scale , dynamic and the bass seems to go down 1 octave lower . My 2cts worth of opinion & observation.

sounds like a great arm. Looking at your AF1, the plinth seems to be a bit low by the fact the belt is very close to the top groove. Closer to the middle is best. Regards. ;)
 

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Young Skywalker

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Apr 30, 2012
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I was impressed by the Axiom's flexibility at CES on the Feickert table and the arm's ability to support, accommodate and get the best out of any cartridge out there. I still do wonder if there's not a small price to pay for all those knobs and weights.

Hey if the Axiom sounds 1/2 as good as it looks, it's sure to be a winner! :)

Hi Myles,

If you look carefully at the energy transfer path of the Axiom tonearm you can see that the somewhat "busy" appearance should not be of any negative consequence. Starting with the Arché headshell (in this instance permanently fixed) with its titanium alloy pipes which connect the small cartridge contact area to the liquid surface damped coaxial titanium alloy and carbon fibre arm tubes, which in turn are coupled to the gimbal mounts' bearings which have tolerances never seen in the audio industry. The gimbal mounts are attached internally to the "VTA tower" which is directly coupled to the unique tonearm mount (single mounting screw with three small levelling screws in contact with a machined spacer, again with small contact area). There is nothing more on this tonearm than needs to be there to solve the very well defined physical problems which face all pivoted designs. Note that the main counterweight is extremely dense (made from compressed tungsten powder) and placed as close as possible to (and largely below) the bearings. Note that the lateral balance weights are as small as possible and located as far as possible from the bearings. Note that both the dynamic balance and antiskating compensation (what little is required) is via magnets rather than moving parts which can resonate. Note that the effective mass tuning weight is slung below the main counterweight and its housing is made from POM.

The arm's contribution to any resolving audio playback system is far, far greater than what it brings in terms of aesthetics or audiophile bragging rights. You can take this with a grain of salt given my bias in owning the product and representing it in what is a very small market here in Australia.

Even if the perfect anything existed in audio there would still be a group of audiophiles who "prefer" something else and that is perfectly fine by me.

I dislike most things in audio, finding them to be mediocre in terms of ultimate performance, lacking in design innovation and/or logic, propped up by pseudo-science marketing, and unfairly priced. In other words, it takes a very great deal to impress me. Often times I go against the grain and again, I am perfectly fine with that.
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
Hi Myles,

If you look carefully at the energy transfer path of the Axiom tonearm you can see that the somewhat "busy" appearance should not be of any negative consequence. Starting with the Arché headshell (in this instance permanently fixed) with its titanium alloy pipes which connect the small cartridge contact area to the liquid surface damped coaxial titanium alloy and carbon fibre arm tubes, which in turn are coupled to the gimbal mounts' bearings which have tolerances never seen in the audio industry. The gimbal mounts are attached internally to the "VTA tower" which is directly coupled to the unique tonearm mount (single mounting screw with three small levelling screws in contact with a machined spacer, again with small contact area). There is nothing more on this tonearm than needs to be there to solve the very well defined physical problems which face all pivoted designs. Note that the main counterweight is extremely dense (made from compressed tungsten powder) and placed as close as possible to (and largely below) the bearings. Note that the lateral balance weights are as small as possible and located as far as possible from the bearings. Note that both the dynamic balance and antiskating compensation (what little is required) is via magnets rather than moving parts which can resonate. Note that the effective mass tuning weight is slung below the main counterweight and its housing is made from POM.

The arm's contribution to any resolving audio playback system is far, far greater than what it brings in terms of aesthetics or audiophile bragging rights. You can take this with a grain of salt given my bias in owning the product and representing it in what is a very small market here in Australia.

Even if the perfect anything existed in audio there would still be a group of audiophiles who "prefer" something else and that is perfectly fine by me.

I dislike most things in audio, finding them to be mediocre in terms of ultimate performance, lacking in design innovation and/or logic, propped up by pseudo-science marketing, and unfairly priced. In other words, it takes a very great deal to impress me. Often times I go against the grain and again, I am perfectly fine with that.


Thanks! Sterling Trayle, the US distributor, gave me the lowdown at CES. :) The arm with an Etna sounded sound very good.
 

audioblazer

Member Sponsor
May 13, 2010
765
204
1,605
Malaysia
sounds like a great arm. Looking at your AF1, the plinth seems to be a bit low by the fact the belt is very close to the top groove. Closer to the middle is best. Regards. ;)


image.jpg

Hi , not sure what u meant .
 

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