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Thread: Phonomac AT-1010 Tonearm review

  1. #31
    Join Date: Jun 2010

    Location: Liverpool, UK.

    Posts: 1,228
    I'm Geoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigman80 View Post
    Never heard one.....I'll have a look
    AT 25th anniversary model. Titanium block, boron cantilever, twin transformers, fineline stylus. The best I have heard . £800 at the time.
    Main system: Sony TTS8000; AT1010; Audio Technica Art1; The Lentek; Cambridge 851n, Yamaha NS1000.
    System 2 - SBT; Technics SH-X1000 DAC; Denon PMA-850

  2. #32
    Join Date: Jan 2018

    Location: Cheadle

    Posts: 8
    I'm Al.

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    Hi chaps,

    I'd been in the market for a mid mass, well designed tonearm to fill a gap in my audio armoury for a while. I'd considered the usual suspects, SME, Audiomods, Audiocraft, and a fair few others (without the option to listen unfortunately) and finally bit the bullet and bagged a NOS, boxed AT-1010. It arrived over the weekend.

    It's not up and running just yet, but on first impression handling it I'm impressed. Let's hope it tickles my ears soon

    Pics to follow

    1.jpg5.jpg4.jpg3.jpg2.jpg
    Last edited by Synergist; 15-01-2018 at 19:35.
    My better half says we should plan for the next 5 years. I remind her that I never know what I'll be doing in the next 5 minutes.

  3. #33
    Bigman80 Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Synergist View Post
    Hi chaps,

    I'd been in the market for a mid mass, well designed tonearm to fill a gap in my audio armoury for a while. I'd considered the usual suspects, SME, Audiomods, Audiocraft, and a fair few others (without the option to listen unfortunately) and finally bit the bullet and bagged a NOS, boxed AT-1010. It arrived over the weekend.

    It's not up and running just yet, but on first impression handling it I'm impressed. Let's hope it tickles my ears soon

    Pics to follow
    Wow, great find!!

    It's a lovely arm too. If you want to unlock it's true potential, give Phonomac a shout and let him work his magic. If you want to compare the Standard arm to the modded arm, you are welcome to bring it down to sunny Wolverhampton

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

  4. #34
    Join Date: Jan 2018

    Location: Cheadle

    Posts: 8
    I'm Al.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigman80 View Post
    Wow, great find!!

    It's a lovely arm too. If you want to unlock it's true potential, give Phonomac a shout and let him work his magic. If you want to compare the Standard arm to the modded arm, you are welcome to bring it down to sunny Wolverhampton

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

    Thanks Oliver,

    Reading your review of the Angus modded arm has me tempted although It's a new toy for now so I'll get to grips with it and listen to it stock for a wee while. I've a few hours checking it out now and I'm suitably impressed thus far. It looks like the AT boffins set out to design a no compromise, well engineered top line arm here. There's some well implemented features and a raft of neat little touches.

    A few things I like so far :
    Top notch build. Reassuringly solid. It screams quality.
    Low slung counterweight with it's axis directly inline with stylus tip.
    Floating CW stub with adjustable damping using the Fo dial.

    This feels like it's gonna be a real pleasure to use
    My better half says we should plan for the next 5 years. I remind her that I never know what I'll be doing in the next 5 minutes.

  5. #35
    Bigman80 Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Synergist View Post
    Thanks Oliver,

    Reading your review of the Angus modded arm has me tempted although It's a new toy for now so I'll get to grips with it and listen to it stock for a wee while. I've a few hours checking it out now and I'm suitably impressed thus far. It looks like the AT boffins set out to design a no compromise, well engineered top line arm here. There's some well implemented features and a raft of neat little touches.

    A few things I like so far :
    Top notch build. Reassuringly solid. It screams quality.
    Low slung counterweight with it's axis directly inline with stylus tip.
    Floating CW stub with adjustable damping using the Fo dial.

    This feels like it's gonna be a real pleasure to use
    You should definitely listen to it in its stock form so when you have it modded you can fully appreciate it's improvements.

    You're welcome anytime to have a listen to mine.

    O

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

  6. #36
    Join Date: Jan 2018

    Location: Cheadle

    Posts: 8
    I'm Al.

    Cool

    That's a kind offer Oliver. If I get that far South I'll give you a nudge ;-)



    Lovely quality and well designed magnesium headshell. Silver leads and nicely damped with an unknown rubber(?) Should keep unwanted nasty vibes at bay.



    Setup was a breeze with this clever little device. Perfect to get the geometry spot on. It doubles as a cartridge setup tool to get the overhang pinpoint accurate. It's graduated in mm on the reverse.


    Kudos to AT for some really nice touches here. Adjustable azimuth on the headshell collar. They've gone to great lengths to make setup straightforward yet highly adjustable for those of us obsessed with accuracy. Nice bias implementation for different stylus profiles and a highly adjustable lateral balance should it be needed. I like the little slope off on the arm rest rubber where the arm comes to rest. The arm lift is smooth and nicely damped. The headshell socket grips like a vice. Reminds me of the collet chuck on my lathe. Quality fit and feel all round. No compromises as far as I can see. Great attention to detail. The arm rest is plastic but feels tough and the arm snaps in nice and snug. The lock is a nice feature for extra safety.

    So far it's a breeze to use. More tomorrow with some listening impressions to share.
    As the 80's soul classic goes "Let the music play"
    My better half says we should plan for the next 5 years. I remind her that I never know what I'll be doing in the next 5 minutes.

  7. #37
    Bigman80 Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Synergist View Post
    That's a kind offer Oliver. If I get that far South I'll give you a nudge ;-)



    Lovely quality and well designed magnesium headshell. Silver leads and nicely damped with an unknown rubber(?) Should keep unwanted nasty vibes at bay.



    Setup was a breeze with this clever little device. Perfect to get the geometry spot on. It doubles as a cartridge setup tool to get the overhang pinpoint accurate. It's graduated in mm on the reverse.


    Kudos to AT for some really nice touches here. Adjustable azimuth on the headshell collar. They've gone to great lengths to make setup straightforward yet highly adjustable for those of us obsessed with accuracy. Nice bias implementation for different stylus profiles and a highly adjustable lateral balance should it be needed. I like the little slope off on the arm rest rubber where the arm comes to rest. The arm lift is smooth and nicely damped. The headshell socket grips like a vice. Reminds me of the collet chuck on my lathe. Quality fit and feel all round. No compromises as far as I can see. Great attention to detail. The arm rest is plastic but feels tough and the arm snaps in nice and snug. The lock is a nice feature for extra safety.

    So far it's a breeze to use. More tomorrow with some listening impressions to share.
    As the 80's soul classic goes "Let the music play"
    Spot on there, love that setup tool!!

    It's a beautiful arm, I'm a big fan. Looks good with your Decca

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

  8. #38
    Join Date: Jan 2018

    Location: Cheadle

    Posts: 8
    I'm Al.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigman80 View Post
    Spot on there, love that setup tool!!

    It's a beautiful arm, I'm a big fan. Looks good with your Decca

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
    True. The tool is cool !! :-)

    Saved a lot of time and fiddling and it was reassuring that the mounting distance was spot on when fixing the mounting collar. All fits into place perfectly when using the AT shells that have the pre-threaded holes. Just fix your cart, snap the shell into the tool, view from below, align to the 50mm mark and hey presto, perfect geometry. Lovely design. I messed around with too many fussy arms in my time. Like I said great work by AT. Looking forward to spinning a few tomorrow
    My better half says we should plan for the next 5 years. I remind her that I never know what I'll be doing in the next 5 minutes.

  9. #39
    Bigman80 Guest

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    A visit from Phonomac today with his new PMAT-1010 MKV !!

    An upgrade again on the most recent version. More to follow.

  10. #40
    Join Date: Jan 2018

    Location: Cheadle

    Posts: 8
    I'm Al.

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    Looking forward to your assessment of the MkV upgrades.

    I've had a few days listeining to my stock arm now so here are my early impressions. I bought it to use with my low compliance carts and before I stumbled on this thread so my purchase was unbiased and a bit of a punt based on it's design and features.

    Opinions are subjective of course, and I've moved on a fair few arms over the years (Jelco, Rega, Lenco, Mission etc) so my opinions are purely based on what I know and have heard. My memory of their qualities, and or weaknesses may not be recent but I think this is a fair comparision.

    So....I've had a Decca Super Gold, ala paratrace & Decca-Pod and a Denon 103 with boron & shibata upgrades to put the AT through it's paces. I'm well familiar with the strengths and weaknessses of these two carts.

    Set-up & use :
    A breeze to setup and a pleasure to use. Arguably the easiet to dial in and ergonically friendly arm I've owned. Even the feel of the screw on the tonearm collar is tactile and of real quality. The tiny details count.

    Sound :
    The first word that struck me was neutral. Nothing standing proud, recessed or out of place, just balanced and coherent. Everything brought together as a collective whole. Tonally it's seems right on the money not adding any unecessary flavour to the mix.
    Pace & control – Hard to descirbe but it has an uncanny knack of making the music sound easy and relaxed without sounding mushy or fudged. It's posied and composed even through the busiest tracks but never to the point of being over analytical by over disecting the mix. It's like it takes it all in it's stride, unfussed, calm, assured. A rare feat in my experience.
    It's up there with the best for detail making the most of what the cart can extract from the groove. Maybe not quiet as much as a good tangential arm can deliver but there's nothing that's missed to dampen the enjoyment. It's silver wiring will have an impact I guess, but I'm not an advocate of too much silver in the chain as it can become overly cold and hyper analytical. Good quality copper still has it's place. I think AT have it right here though as it compliments the other qualities of the design.
    Which brings me onto the high's and mids. They sound right. Sweet with the right amount of sparkle, never sounding harsh or shrill. The AT has cleaned up the very minor siblant nature of my Decca here. It's not sounded this sweet for a long time. I'll put this down to what I wrote above about control and neutrality. One thing's for sure, this arm is one heck of a good partner for carts that need the most help tracking.
    My test track for bass response, power and control is Lou Reed's "Walk on the wild side". It's the yarstick for me as it has a deep, driving, multi octave and sometimes subtle bassline that some arms (and carts) struggle with. Everything was delivered with aplomb, tight and poweful, with impact, tuneful. I'm quite sure the arms solid feel and excellent tracking ablity has a big part to play here. It will be interesting to learn of the mods that Angus makes to an already excellent design.

    I could easily continue but my ears are getting itchy waiting for me to put on the next album. Time to spin some of that old black magic
    My better half says we should plan for the next 5 years. I remind her that I never know what I'll be doing in the next 5 minutes.

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