HI,
I have read most of the pages but not all of them yet, therefore in case I make a question already answered accept my apology, sorry for it. I keep reading....
However I believe that most of the people here consider the LT tonearm one of the most ingenious TA ever engineered, look simple but it has high technology to track vinyls at their best.
Mr. Frank Schroeder is definitely a genius and innovator in this field.
Does anyone of you purchased his LT tonearm or made an attempt as DIYer to make a possible copy?.
In both cases above any comment of the sound result and use pls?.
By the way I am a DIYer and such tonearm is unfortunately is by far much above my purchase capability, nevertheless my system would not be up to it by far as well.
Tks in advance for any comment and tks to Mr. Schroeder for his support to this forum.
Rgds
Adelmo
I have read most of the pages but not all of them yet, therefore in case I make a question already answered accept my apology, sorry for it. I keep reading....
However I believe that most of the people here consider the LT tonearm one of the most ingenious TA ever engineered, look simple but it has high technology to track vinyls at their best.
Mr. Frank Schroeder is definitely a genius and innovator in this field.
Does anyone of you purchased his LT tonearm or made an attempt as DIYer to make a possible copy?.
In both cases above any comment of the sound result and use pls?.
By the way I am a DIYer and such tonearm is unfortunately is by far much above my purchase capability, nevertheless my system would not be up to it by far as well.
Tks in advance for any comment and tks to Mr. Schroeder for his support to this forum.
Rgds
Adelmo
Hello dtut,
Obtaining protection for your Intellectual Property does not have to prevent DIYers from building their own versions of your invention. Frank Schröder for instance, has stated that it would be OK for a DIYer to build a clone of his tone arm as long as it was not for commercial purposes. (correct me if I'm wrong Frank)
I take the same attitude concerning my own tone arm design.
Would it not make you really mad, if you did't protect your invention only to see someone rip it off and take all the credit?
Sincerely,
Ralf
Straight Tracker,
You have been working on your tonearm for a long long time. I am sure it is one of the best in the world. Can't get anybody to make and market your tonearm? You can sell one at a time, price would be $30,000 or more for one. Sell the one you have to test the market. Price is high because it is a custom, rare, and limited item product.
You have been working on your tonearm for a long long time. I am sure it is one of the best in the world. Can't get anybody to make and market your tonearm? You can sell one at a time, price would be $30,000 or more for one. Sell the one you have to test the market. Price is high because it is a custom, rare, and limited item product.
Hello audiostar,
There is a European company that showed some interest, but it is too early to tell what will become of that. I met the owner of the company at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and he expressed a strong interest in my tone arm.
About a year ago I discovered that my floating head shell would also benefit standard pivoting tone arms and that convinced me to apply for a US patent.
Being on a fixed income I couldn't afford to pay thousands of Dollars to a patent attorney and so I prepared and filed the application myself as a so-called "Micro Entity" which reduces all the Government fees by 75%. To my total surprise, the application sailed through the examination process without any difficulties and was allowed two months ago.
Also, for about a year I have been manufacturing five pivoting tone arms with a floating head shell, which I'll finish in about a month.
There will be no more skating and bending if cantilevers, EVER.
Sincerely,
Ralf
There is a European company that showed some interest, but it is too early to tell what will become of that. I met the owner of the company at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and he expressed a strong interest in my tone arm.
About a year ago I discovered that my floating head shell would also benefit standard pivoting tone arms and that convinced me to apply for a US patent.
Being on a fixed income I couldn't afford to pay thousands of Dollars to a patent attorney and so I prepared and filed the application myself as a so-called "Micro Entity" which reduces all the Government fees by 75%. To my total surprise, the application sailed through the examination process without any difficulties and was allowed two months ago.
Also, for about a year I have been manufacturing five pivoting tone arms with a floating head shell, which I'll finish in about a month.
There will be no more skating and bending if cantilevers, EVER.
Sincerely,
Ralf
Hi Joe,
I'll have five samples of my floating head shell Tone Arm done in about a month. If it performs well, it might be on a European manufacturer's turn table at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I'll be at that show, Tone Arm or not, because my son lives nearby and I owe him a visit.
Sincerely,
Ralf
I'll have five samples of my floating head shell Tone Arm done in about a month. If it performs well, it might be on a European manufacturer's turn table at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I'll be at that show, Tone Arm or not, because my son lives nearby and I owe him a visit.
Sincerely,
Ralf
Hi Doug,
tks for the informations, appreciate it. Understand the neutral sounding of your TA, may I ask with which cart did you use your LT clone ?.
I mostly use since many years Denon DL 103 with 12 inch TA and if I attempt to make one LT clone I plan to listen it with the same cart.
Tks n rgds
Adelmo
tks for the informations, appreciate it. Understand the neutral sounding of your TA, may I ask with which cart did you use your LT clone ?.
I mostly use since many years Denon DL 103 with 12 inch TA and if I attempt to make one LT clone I plan to listen it with the same cart.
Tks n rgds
Adelmo
Adelmo,
I used a Shure M91. The clone I built was light so that cartridge was a good match. I wanted to use a high compliance cartridge to test how well the arm tracked and how much the stylus displaced. When properly set up, the arm tracked very well and the stylus appeared to stay centered. I didn't hear distortion or mistracking.
There shouldn't be any problem building an arm with an effective mass that the Denon likes.
If you want to try a simpler PLT which has all the information available, Carlo (nocdplz) has posted several designs that will let you build a working arm and learn how PLTs work and about important construction details.
Good luck with your project and please let us know how it goes.
I used a Shure M91. The clone I built was light so that cartridge was a good match. I wanted to use a high compliance cartridge to test how well the arm tracked and how much the stylus displaced. When properly set up, the arm tracked very well and the stylus appeared to stay centered. I didn't hear distortion or mistracking.
There shouldn't be any problem building an arm with an effective mass that the Denon likes.
If you want to try a simpler PLT which has all the information available, Carlo (nocdplz) has posted several designs that will let you build a working arm and learn how PLTs work and about important construction details.
Good luck with your project and please let us know how it goes.
Would it not make you really mad, if you did't protect your invention only to see someone rip it off and take all the credit?
Sincerely,
Ralf[/QUOTE]
Ralf,
Your question made me think hard - the short answer is "no."
You spent years developing your concepts into functioning arms that are, I believe, truly revolutionary, and I'm happy to see your ideas getting the attention they deserve. If I had worked that long and hard, then got ripped off, I'd be maybe just a little irritated.
I stumbled into my design because I was cheap, lazy, and got lucky. I overlaid two drawings of different arm lengths on one piece of paper and, because I'd been staring at Thales/Birch circles so long, saw that I could eliminate the rear pivot point by using two control arms. Even then, my first reaction was that I'd found a way to save real estate on the TT base. It took me awhile to understand the rest of it. I built a proof of concept model and a working version - and then stopped. Carlo took the idea, did far more development than I did, and produced beautiful drawings that are essentially recipes for building successful arms.
I hoped for years that more DIYers would build the twin arm and what finally happens? Commercial versions.
Reed and Thiele spent the time and money that I never did developing their versions of the twin arm, so although some kind of credit would be nice, I like what they've done, especially the Reed.
Maybe I'll buy one.
Sincerely,
Ralf[/QUOTE]
Ralf,
Your question made me think hard - the short answer is "no."
You spent years developing your concepts into functioning arms that are, I believe, truly revolutionary, and I'm happy to see your ideas getting the attention they deserve. If I had worked that long and hard, then got ripped off, I'd be maybe just a little irritated.
I stumbled into my design because I was cheap, lazy, and got lucky. I overlaid two drawings of different arm lengths on one piece of paper and, because I'd been staring at Thales/Birch circles so long, saw that I could eliminate the rear pivot point by using two control arms. Even then, my first reaction was that I'd found a way to save real estate on the TT base. It took me awhile to understand the rest of it. I built a proof of concept model and a working version - and then stopped. Carlo took the idea, did far more development than I did, and produced beautiful drawings that are essentially recipes for building successful arms.
I hoped for years that more DIYers would build the twin arm and what finally happens? Commercial versions.
Reed and Thiele spent the time and money that I never did developing their versions of the twin arm, so although some kind of credit would be nice, I like what they've done, especially the Reed.
Maybe I'll buy one.
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Hi Dampdau,
I Like you propositive approach, but I am not able to provide technical suggestions for your two proposal as for my limited skill the technical question is too complex to have well tuned in a steady way so many strings.
Perhaps some more technical skilled guys here can provide suggestions.
Sorry.
Rgds
Adelmo
I Like you propositive approach, but I am not able to provide technical suggestions for your two proposal as for my limited skill the technical question is too complex to have well tuned in a steady way so many strings.
Perhaps some more technical skilled guys here can provide suggestions.
Sorry.
Rgds
Adelmo
Hi Doug,
I have started to collect some part for an attempt of LT clone, but shall take some time as I am not that quick and soon I shall take some holiday.
The starting point as for the figures for the LT TA is a 250mm effective length of the arm, distance from center of spindle to center of TA 275mm as I have read these figure some where and taken as correct......
Also the dimension of the center of the main horizontal rotation to the secondary horizontal rotation of the arm I shall start with is 30mm or a bit bigger, but this shall be further figured out.
Others also I have to figure out on the way...
If you do not mind I have a question regarding the bearings to be used. I think the most demanding stress is on the main rotation point due to the TA weight x the bracket length of 30mm or more.
Therefore what kind of bearing did you use for the both horizontal rotation point?
Tks n rgds
Adelmo
Adelmo,
Please do build the the PLT you are planning and let us all know how it goes.
Boca Bearings - Search Results for sr3c-yzz #5 nb2
This link should take you to the bearings I used. They use a new very light lubrication and spin freely and quietly. If you don't want lubrication, just clean them in acetone.
If you are unfamiliar with pre-stressed bearings, I really suggest checking that out.
275mm/250mm are numbers I have for Frank Schroeder's PLT. Not a bad place to start.
Good luck with the arm and enjoy your holiday.
Please do build the the PLT you are planning and let us all know how it goes.
Boca Bearings - Search Results for sr3c-yzz #5 nb2
This link should take you to the bearings I used. They use a new very light lubrication and spin freely and quietly. If you don't want lubrication, just clean them in acetone.
If you are unfamiliar with pre-stressed bearings, I really suggest checking that out.
275mm/250mm are numbers I have for Frank Schroeder's PLT. Not a bad place to start.
Good luck with the arm and enjoy your holiday.