air bearing tonearm links ?

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Are you using a high compliance cartridge with the AB arms?

They steal the bass?

If you read any reviews of either the Air Tangent, Versa Dynamics or even the cheaper Eminent technogoly,s ET1 or 2 Lackluster bass was not an issue.

Having a couple of ET1,s and subs myself I can assure you deep bass is not a problem.

An air bearing has 2 small and different low freq. resonant peaks, Horizontal and vertical. A gimbaled style has 1 huge resonant point, depending on compliance/mass of course.
This at least gives your system a better chance at getting those lows to flow without interaction.
No bearing chatter for me!

Regards
David

Cheers, 😉

 

[AVWERK]

High compliance and high horizontal mass are generally not a good combo. That would pull the resonant closer to warp frequency,s.

I use medium compliance low output MC,s

Regards
David

 

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I'm using a low compliance, low output MC myself.
A friend of mine to whom I sold one of my AT arms reported the same problem.
Can't quite remember what cartridge he was using though.

A TT and arm designer I'm acquainted with pointed to the fact that there's hardly any mechanical coupling between the rod and the shaft forcing vibrations induced by the cartridge to travel back and forth inside the rod until they are converted into heat.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your reply anyway, 😉

 

[tinitus]

I always wondered every time I looked at my DIY air supported tangential arm
Funny to see the complete assembly move from side to side, following the not so round grooves
And even more strange to think that the movement was controlled by a tiny diamond and its little soft suspended arm, barely moving

I do remember that dust was a major killer
Had to keep it polished and shiny, always
And 110% correctly horisontally levelled
And I remember the horror when air pressure failed, ouch

Well, I suppose you know all about that

btw, back then, the biggest problem was the quality of the prepre/riia
And the exstra woofer activity
Not many dared to think of subs

I dont miss the sound
I have better sound today
But I miss all the attention and care it needed
Somehow music seemed to have a higher value

 

[AVWERK]

Frank

Here,s away to test any arm for resonances that shouldn,t be there.

The simple way is tapping with a pencil while the tone arm is on the record, it should only produce a thump with no high frequency's.

A more complex way with more sensitve result's:

Take any low compliance cartridge/tonearm/TT setup (this will force as much vibrations into the arm as possible- because of it's low compl. )

This side of a Strain gauge or accellerometer ,(Spelling right?) you now need another tonearm and high compliance cartridge setup.
With a test record of white/pink noise or wideband music disc playing, you place the high compliance needle on top of the low compliance headshell or anywhere along the tube that will stay put while playing. The headshell should work well enough. (I used a Grace 707/Shure V15 cart. at the time)

Any resonances that shouldn't be there will be heard easily thru the high compliance test setup thru your system/or head phones or a spectrum analyser.
The ET1 passed this test and is in their manual as one of many ways to isolate vibrations you want to quench (Heat shrink is one easy fix)
BTW The Linn Ittock rings like a telephone and some like it that way! (shrink wrap is must on that one)

Regards
David

 

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Thanks, David.
I'll keep it in mind for when I'm going to set up yhe TT and AT again.

We used to nickname the infamous IttoK the TikTok......😀

Cheers, 😉

 

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I always wondered every time I looked at my DIY air supported tangential arm
Funny to see the complete assembly move from side to side, following the not so round grooves
And even more strange to think that the movement was controlled by a tiny diamond and its little soft suspended arm, barely moving

I do remember that dust was a major killer
Had to keep it polished and shiny, always
And 110% correctly horisontally levelled
And I remember the horror when air pressure failed, ouch

Well, I suppose you know all about that

btw, back then, the biggest problem was the quality of the prepre/riia
And the exstra woofer activity
Not many dared to think of subs

I dont miss the sound
I have better sound today
But I miss all the attention and care it needed
Somehow music seemed to have a higher value

Haiku style posting aside, I did post a fine MC headamp some years ago in the "Tubes". Nickname: MCHammer...

Regulated filament supplies and a CCS for the plate loads as well. Dead quiet and very versatile to boot.
It won't kill any woofers either....

Cheers, 😉