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In Reply to: Turntable recommendation posted by Charles Hansen on August 26, 2017 at 14:30:56:
Hi Sue,
Again for me there is only one arm in the world that stands head and shoulders above every other arm out there - the Kuzma 4-Point. Just like a turntable, it is critical to have a zero-clearance bearing in you tonearm, but for completely different reasons. Instead of speed stability, this time we are eliminating bearing chatter.
There are three general types of tonearms that do this. First are unipivots and "hanging thread" (eg, Well Tempered and Schroeder). The problem with all of these designs is that the geometry is *not* fixed and the arm can move in unwanted directions. There are a dozen different band-aids which can be applied - probably most successfully by Schroeder (which I also like a lot), but they are still always finicky to set up and often to use. In many designs, the band-aids used to stabilize the arm have drawbacks the nullify many of the advantages of a unipivot.
The only other zero-clearance tonearms that have no mechanical disadvantages are the high-pressure linear air bearing designs like John Bicht's brilliant VersaDynamics. The problem there is pumps, compressors, control boxes, hoses, noise, maintenance, and expense. I'm too old for that shit.
Which leaves exactly one tonearm - the Kuzma 4-Point. Not only is the bearing a radical design that eliminates all bearing chatter, but also provides fixed stability in all 3 axes. Plus (like all Kuzma products) it offers great mechanical construction and design, which translates into amazing sound for the money at any given price point.
The 4-Point is of average difficulty to set up, but once set up, it is trivially easy to adjust almost anything - *especially* VTA, which can be adjusted during play. If there are two things that you *might* want to fiddle with during play, they are tracking weight and VTA.
Tracking weight is easily changed on *any* arm by setting the tracking force on the low end of what sounds good, and then making a batch of tiny (0.5 mm to 1mm in diameter) balls of Mor-tite and laying them on the table. Then at any given point you can raise the cuing lever and add these to the top of the headshell to adjust the VTF in increments of probably 0.01 grams. Michael Gindi showed me this trick 30 years ago and I was shocked at how effective it was in dialing in different records. It may have just been affecting the SRA angle by deflecting the cantilever, or possibly centering the coils in the magnetic field, but whatever it was doing, it sure worked.
It may be that the VTA adjustment on the 4-Point negates the need for this degree of fiddling, and unlike the VTF adjustment does not require play to be stopped with the arm lift.
The 4-Point is not a cheap arm, but it is also not stupidly expensive like many of Fremer's favorites. (In fact I suspect that if it were priced at 5x its current price, it probably would be. Go back and read his review of it and tell me where you thing its shortcomings are...)
The bottom line is that for something like $18,000 US retail (I have no idea of current prices), you can get an arm + table that is as good as anything on the planet in terms of sonic performance - even the $100,000+ "super" gear, plus is dead nuts simple to operate, plus is super easy to set up, plus is gorgeous to look at, plus will last forever, plus has no extra compressors, hoses, and crap (outside of the small outboard power supply), plus will fit on any rack, plus works fantastically with 99% of the cartridges out there.
In my opinion, anybody that spends more than that for a turntable has "Rolex syndrome" and just wants to flaunt either their wealth or their "technical sophistication" to show that they can adjust and operate some fantastically complex machinery. It's no longer about getting great sound, but instead about displaying some aspect of the owner's personality.
At lower prices, there are lots of choices but they all involve compromises. Whenever compromises are involved you will get differences of opinion as to what is more important to that particular person. Some companies and designers are better than others. But if all you can afford is (say) $1000 for an arm and 'table, I can't imagine anybody being unhappy with (for example) the new Rega Planar 3 - a brilliant job of juggling the compromises. Will it sound as good as the dps + 4-Point? Of course not. But it is still a gorgeous, easy to set up and use product that will last forever and work with almost any cartridge.
There are probably a handful of standout products in between $1000 and $18,000, but I don't keep up with that scene well enough to make recommendations.
Hope this helps,
Charles Hansen
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Follow Ups
- RE: Arm recommendation - Charles Hansen 15:26:27 08/26/17 (1)
- RE: Arm recommendation - Mark Hoepfl 21:49:38 08/26/17 (0)
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