Opus 3 Cantus parallel tracking arm

[fdegrove]

Hi,

So: a lateral force compensation which is a little bit overdoing its task is just what i want.

I am afraid we'll just have to disagree on this as far as airbearing arms go...
If set up correctly you will notice no sideforces whatsoever, neither centripetal nor centrifugal.

As for the cliffhanger design, I don't see why it can't hang from the rail and still have it's pivotal centre at record level either.
But that's not important anyway, I'm just giving away ideas here...

Cheers,

[Pentacone]

If anyone is interested, I am a long-time personal friend of the Gentleman who designed the Opus 3 Cantus (And Continuo, Concrete Turntable).

The design is revolutionary, and has unique charateristics.

The Replay Dynamics are unbelievable, because the Cartridge cannot move Up and Down.....it can only move Forwards and Backwards....And because of the Resistance in the Horizontal motion, the Stylus to Body Dynamics are vast!!

The relatively slow motion of the rotating Groove, easily pulls the Carriage along the Track, Backwards and Forwards, if the Record is "Out-of-Centre".

All that is necessary on Set-Up, is to ensure that the Glass Tube is either perfectly Level, or tilting slightly towards the Centre Spindle.

Because it is Linear-Tracking, there is NO need for Anti-skate.....The stylus sits perfectly still on a Blank Record Surface!!

Two points are required along the Linear Path, to ensure that the Cartridge Body is perfectly parallel to the Cutting Groove. These can be drawn on the Platter Surface, using a Protractor.

The recommended Cartridge is "The Music-Maker" from the "Cartridge Man", it is a FANTASTIC combination.

http://www.thecartridgeman.com/

http://www.rauna.com/slides/continuojpg.html

http://rauna.e-butik.se/

http://go.to/pentacone

Kindest regards,

Pentacone Peter.

[moray james]

or a patent to view that would make the exact structure of this arm clear? It does look very interesting. If the cartridge cannot move up and down what happens with warped records? The pictures I looked at don't explain the working mechanism (for me anyway). Thanks.

[bambo]

Hello vinyl lovers,

I have not had the pleasure of hearing the Cantus...
But the people over at noteworthy, recommend it in their sub 700£ tonearm list (last item on the page).
http://www.noteworthyaudio.co.uk/Tonearms1.html
They have nice pictures of the Cantus as well, so that you can see / understand its working principles. Of course they want to sell something, but considering what this small arm is compared to, and the way these merchants put things, there must be real quality I guess..

cheers,
Mark

[moray james]

those pictures do give a better visual but I still cannot see hw the cradle that hlds the bearing s workd and hoe does the arm not move up and down? The carrige must be able to rotate on the horizontal glass tube?

[Pentacone]

YES!! You are correct.....It does not go UP and Down, it Rotates, like a Child's Swing!

Therefore, the Stylus Motion is going in a different direction to the Cartridge Body. Clever Eh?

And please don't worry about the Warps, it is a joy to watch!

[woodturner-fran]

I can't get this!

Would anyone have a short video they could post on youtube or similar?

Fran

[bappe]

Have used this for years and i have no intetion to replace it, it out-performs anything i have tried. The sound can be described as very dynamic, dry and rock-solid. One clever part of how the arm is working is that there is no defined pivot piont since it will will move around, and still it maintains a solid mechanical contact with the glass tube. In practice this means that the arm does not have a well defined resonance either, smart. It is highly recommended in my book.

/Anders

[moray james]

could a person use three ballpoint pet tips in a three point arm cradle to run an arm like this on a smooth tube? I wondered if you had them set into the end of a fine threaded machine screw so they could be adjusted in toward the tube till just enough pressure was made to keep the cradle assembly from ratteling and it could then freely rotate around and slide across the tube. Would a longer arm tube be of any assistance to the geometry of an arm like this? Could make a poor mans Souther and call it the Tri-Bic. Any thoughts Stew?
At a show in Vegas I talked with Lou Souther at length. Lou got an LP with a centre hole drilled 3/4" off centre and wild warps about a 1/4" high and handed it to me asking if my arm would play it. I laughed said no and added that his would not either. Lou smiled and put the record on the dec and set the stylus in the groove and the tip stayed in the groove. That cartridge looked like a ship being tossed at sea in the waves but we laughed and watched it ride across the whole disk. By the way before I left Lou played a flat record on the same machine and it was beautiful probably the best sound I had heard.

[bappe]

Why three points when two is enough? The Cantus does not rattle since the bearings are like train wheels and hence are mechanically biased a bit off-center, adding the drag that the reding of the grove causes makes it even better. The ref to the Souther is interresting since the Cantus have been developed after quite som experience of that one. It can be considered a Souther taken one step further, even though it might not look so at first sight. I mightbe a little bit biased since do know the designer very well but i must say that i do like the Cantus better than the Souther. Its only real drawback is that it takes a little bit of work to set up and the finish is not up to the standard of many other arms, then again, it comes at a lower price than the competition. I am today running it with an Ortofon Rohmann but have used ZYX RS-10, vdh modified SPU and EMT TSD15 with very good results.

BR,
Anders