tonearm thoughts

[Zoidburg]

At some point before the end of the year im hoping to change my current tonearm with a view to getting something thats going to provide a decent jump up in performance from my current moth /rb300.

So i was wondering if the below arm would do the trick, or would i need to move up a rung on the origin ladder?

http://www.originlive.com/budget-tonearms-alliance.html

or are their other better options out their maybe?

Be interested to hear peoples thoughts / experiences cheers

ben

[Clive197]

At some point before the end of the year im hoping to change my current tonearm with a view to getting something thats going to provide a decent jump up in performance from my current moth /rb300.

So i was wondering if the below arm would do the trick, or would i need to move up a rung on the origin ladder?

http://www.originlive.com/budget-tonearms-alliance.html

or are their other better options out their maybe?

Be interested to hear peoples thoughts / experiences cheers

ben

The arm your looking at is probably as good as your Moth/RB300.
When I was in the market for a arm, I was advised that Orgin Live arms are good but you need to start with the Silver Mk3. So that was the one I bought.
I have not looked back since, the Silver is a great arm and certainly a good and worthwhile upgrade for you if the price does not put you off at £675.
Many on this forum are fans of the Jelco750D which would be an option but IMO based on the arm you have I think you would be wise to stay with a Rega clone. There are a number on the market which would be worth investigating.
Good luck in your search.
Oh, by the way what deck are you wanting the arm for?

Clive

[Zoidburg]

Thanks for your comments Clive, I thought that might need to be reaching a bit higher, guess I better get saving my pennies!

I'm going to be mounting the new arm on my current SRM Tech Athena which is set up for a rega type arm.

I've also been looking that this as well but have no idea if its any good or a match for the OL arms or even if its in the same price range. I just love the look of it.

http://www.designbuildlisten.com/wand.htm

[Marco]

Good advice there from Clive. Another option you might like to consider, which I suspect would work very well on your T/T (if you don't mind unipivots) is the Roksan Nima. In the right context, it's a wonderfully musical, fluid sounding tonearm.

Visually, it would certainly be a great match for the Athena! :)

Here she is:


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/855/oumm.jpg

It costs around £500.

Marco.

[Zoidburg]

Thanks Marco,

I would not be adverse to a Nima certainly (as you point out) it looks like it would be a visial match for the Athena. Are there any specific benefits or downfalls of unipivots?

[Marco]

Not really, although they tend to optimise the performance of certain types of cartridges, so even more so than usual, think of the arm and cartridge as a partnership.

As a general rule, unipivots tend to have a lighter, more 'airy', fluid, type of presentation, and gimballed arms a weightier, more authoritative presentation with better bass, perhaps at the expense of ultimate detail and delicacy.

However, as I've said, that effect will be HUGELY cartridge and also T/T dependent. At the end of the day, synergy is the key! Hope that helps :)

Marco.

[daytona600]

£ 800 is uk price for the wand tonearm or a Roksan Nima & spend the rest on new LPs or a new cartridge

[CageyH]

Try a Funk FXR.
They sound sublime.

[Marco]

The Wand is a good shout, Scott! :)

The FXR is superb, but perhaps costs a little more than Ben may want to spend.

Marco.

[Mike g]

Send your current arm to J7 at audio origami and he will turn it into an RB7.

[Ali Tait]

Trans-Fi Terminator. Lot of arm for the money.

[The Grand Wazoo]

The Wand is a good shout, Scott! :)

Yes.
Somehow, though, it's doubled in price.
It seems there are now some extra noses in the trough.

[MikeMusic]

I have a Jelco 750 if you are interested - let me know

Never raced or rallied and only displaced by a wonderful FR64fx

[Spectral Morn]

A lot depends on whether the SRM will take a replacement arm board. If not then the arm must be Rega geometry, mount.

The Rega RB300 arm is a very good arm, though rewiring etc will improve it and may be an ideal, synergistic match for the SRM. Contact SRM and ask them. My view would be that unless you can stretch to an Origin Live Encounter I would stick with the Rega. Other OL arms now use the three point Rega mount so keep that in mind too.

The Roksan Nima is a good arm but its fiddly to set up and is a tad fragile re the headshell tags. An older one with the cable loom inside mostly without breaks in it, imho, is better than the newer arm with the din socket in the bottom.

Another option would be an Audiomods arm http://www.audiomods.co.uk/completearms.html but I feel this might just be a sideways step and not an upgrade.... as such.

The Rega arm can do justice to high end MC carts and upmarket MMs so an arm rewire and new cart might be another, better option.


Regards Neil

[CageyH]

There is an FXR II on ebay - buy it now.
It's Rega based so would fit with no problem.

[Zoidburg]

Yeah cheers 900 notes is abit steep foreme at present. I was thinking maybe the 500-600 quid mark initially. To answer another question my tt does not have a replaceable armbard so whatever I choose has to be rega fitment.

in the short term would it be worth fitting a technoweight to my current arm annd having it rewired maybe?

[phonomac]

Hello there,
If you can stretch your budget to £675 I have an origin Live Encounter Mk3 with Dual Pivot bearings available.

regards

Angus

[Spectral Morn]

Hello there,
If you can stretch your budget to £675 I have an origin Live Encounter Mk3 with Dual Pivot bearings available.

regards

Angus

Ben

That would be a good option, and an upgrade over the RB300.


Regards Neil

[Zoidburg]

Well its taken me a while but by chance it looks like I have managed to win a Wand tonearm (via the dreaded bay) as previously mentioned on this thread. I'm actually quite pleased about it as it's something iv admired since first seeing it online year or 2 ago. I hope it sounds as good as it looks but won't find out until I collect it next weekend.

Will update further once I have it back at home in due course.

[rubber duck]

Congrats. This would have been my choice too and I was in touch with the seller on another forum before he put it on eBay. Glad it's at least gone to someone on AoS. Looking forward to your impressions.

[Zoidburg]

Oh interesting to know cheers. I do keep an eye on the classifieds on here, the wam and pink fish occasionally too but maybe I just didn't notice it before.