Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Bluenote U3 Tone Arms by TimB5881

Model:	U3
Category:	Tone Arms
Suggested Retail Price:	$395
Description:	Unipivote Tone Arm
Manufacturer URL:	Bluenote
Manufacturer URL:	Bluenote

Review by TimB5881 ( A ) on May 13, 2003 at 18:50:15
IP Address: 172.175.90.168

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for the U3

Well, I have had this arm for a little while, and here is the review I promise one and all! Bluenote is a Italian mnaufacture of audio equipment. This is thier entry level arm. It sports no arm lift, onl;y a finger lift at the head shell. It also does not have a true anti skate (bias) adjustment in the truest sense. They recomend twisting the off centered counterweight to adjust for anti skate, and that has little if any impact on setting anti skate, but the as the internal wire twists, it does exert enough to give some anti skate. Those are the two biggest obsticles to this arm. Now for the good points! It is an all aluminium arm, set to the Rega mounting geometry. The aluminum has no damping in the arm tube, but if one ask's Bluenote, they will add damping to the arm if you wish. One thing to point out, the mounting shaft is not threaded like a Rega Rb series arm, so a mounting collar is needed. This will also require a bigger mounting hole than a Rega specified mounting hole to allow for a collar. With a mounting collar, the shaft can allow for VTA to be adjusted. Azimuth may be adjusted by shifting the off centered counter weight.
I mounted this arm on my Linn LP12/Valhalla, using a Linn arm board and mounting collar. While this is not a Rega specified mounting scheme, I had sufficent abilty to correctly mount a cartridge with a 2 point null standard. The arm allows for correct height adjustment for any cartridge as well. The first cartridge I tried on it was a Ortofon OM20 Moving Magnet cartridge. This combo proved to be very musical and enjoyable. The arm brought out as much detail as this budget cartridge could muster. The bass was tight and well focused, and provide good innner detail of a bass guitar. It also fleshed out the differences when a bass drum and bass guitar played at the same time. The treble detailed an extended, but not what I would call bright. The arm also brought out alot of detail. Next I tried a Koetsu Black Moving Coil cartridge. This is the best cartridge I have, and was not ashamed to be on this arm at all. When compared to it on my Rega 25/RB600 set up, the Linn/U3 combo showed more detail, better extreme frequency details and control.
Next I tried my Shure V15VMR on it, this was not so good. The Shure seemed flat and lacked dynamics that I knew it could deliver. When the V15 was on the Rega, it slamed and delivered great dynamics and bass, not so on the U3. So onto my next cartridge, the Denon DL110. The U3 really liked this inexpensive MC. The detailwas close if not equal to the Koetsu, but beat out the Koetsu on bass and treble details, along with a warm but not romantic mid (which the Koetsu is known for). On rock all but the Shure really delivered with the U3. I heard things in the bass I never heard before, and the treble was just more detailed, not brighter.
Any one wanting to try a Unipivote on a budget should give this one a try.

Product Weakness: No arm lift, no anti skate control.
Product Strengths: Great price, rivals the Rega RB250 and 300. Excellent detail and comntrol on a Linn LP12

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	musical Fidelity A3cr
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	ARC LS7/Musical Fidelity LP^2 phono
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Linn LP12, Rega 25,Sony SCD-CE775
Speakers:	Infinity Interlude 50
Cables/Interconnects:	Monster, AudioQuest, Sonic Horizon
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Rock,Pop and Blues
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 months
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	No arm lift, no anti skate control.
Product Strengths:	Great price, rivals the Rega RB250 and 300. Excellent detail and comntrol on a Linn LP12