New Jelco Tonearms

[Ammonite Audio]

http://www.monoandstereo.com/2017/08...earm.html#more

It looks like Jelco have produced a new range of tonearms with knife-edge vertical bearings!

[petrat]

Interesting. Pricing is a bit higher than Jelco's previous offerings, so they'd better be better ... but there again, the knife-edges are made from 'special supper steel' (sic)

[1200reasons]

they took a knife out of their best silverware from the sounds of it

[jusbe]

http://www.monoandstereo.com/2017/08...earm.html#more

It looks like Jelco have produced a new range of tonearms with knife-edge vertical bearings!

Looking to inherit SME's mantle, perhaps? If so, canny move - especially with the combination of knife-edge bearings and dynamic balancing (low compliance/vintage cartridges may like this).

[1200reasons]

Would these affect the price of the current range, or will they sit as another line, completely separate?

I've had my eye on a 750D for quite some time and would hate to pull the trigger before a price drop

[Ammonite Audio]

No idea, but the pricing indicated on the link suggests that these are a separate, premium line with rather higher pricing compared to the 750 series.

[petrat]

Hugo number two! Obviously Australia is a wonderful country if it has price-drops ... not a concept known to UK hifi distributors ime.

Most people who've already got Jelco arms consider them to be wonderful value for money, but the new line seems to be priced a bit up-market. Hopefully, higher quality engineering / finish might justify the difference, but I can't see them costing more than twice as much as the 750 series to produce Maybe the european distributors are getting greedy ... or, possibly, the retail margins on the 250 and 750 were too slim to attract dealers? Anyway, I'm very satisfied with my 750, and would thoroughly recommend the arm to you, Hugo(2) ... quality item at a sensible price (in the UK market, anyway).

One thing that I wonder about the new series is that some people (mags?) say knife-edge bearings are only good for high-compliance (mm) cartridges ... stuff about low-compliance cartridges putting too much energy into the bearings, creating 'chatter', etc. I once had a SME 3009 (non-improved) and it seemed OK with an SPU ... not 'stellar', but it was certainly working fine ... lovely mid-range iirc. Is this just yet another nonsense 'audio myth', started by SME's competitors?

[Ammonite Audio]

My feeling is that knife edge bearings (and unipivot/twin pivot designs) are fine as long as they are properly machined and the arm is not a lightweight affair, likely to hop around. My Reed 3P has twin pivots for its vertical bearings and works fine, as do the better Origin Live designs. Looking at the few photos of the new Jelcos, the bearing structure looks a great deal more massive and solid than the 750's, which is probably a good thing. I always say that you'd have to be prepared to spend more then £1k to really better a Jelco SA-750, so these arms look like representing a natural quality and sound upgrade path. In an increasingly crowded vinyl marketplace, I am reassured that Jelco seem to be offering something that is most probably properly engineered and not insanely priced (Technics too, for that matter). As for pricing in general, the strength of the Yen and last year's sudden devaluation of the £ have not helped (Harold Wilson, anyone?).