Tonearm tweak -- question for Marco

[magiccarpetride]

Hey Marco,

From what others have told me here, you are the go-to Denon DL-103 guru, right? If yes, I have a question for you -- have you heard about this 103 tweak, and have you maybe tried it, and what do you think?

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/strange-tonearm-tweak-long

Is it worth the trouble?

Thanks and cheers!

Alex

[Mr Kipling]

Had that idea - YEARS AGO! Was always going to employ it if ever I got round to making a uni-pivot.

Given up on that now and looking a linear air bearing.

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[walpurgis]

You could always try making an air bearing unipivot! :)

And yes, it could be done. It's something I pondered over.

[alphaGT]

You could always try making an air bearing unipivot! :)

And yes, it could be done. It's something I pondered over.

.???
I'm having trouble with that? Please share your thoughts.


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[Marco]

Wow - I'll need to take a holiday to read the length of that article! I'll come back to you in a month ;)

Marco.

[magiccarpetride]

Wow - I'll need to take a holiday to read the length of that article! I'll come back to you in a month ;)

Marco.

Sorry to lay that on you. A number of sources scattered around the net seem to concur with that esoteric tweak. Would be great if a reputable source such as yourself could issue a final verdict (and I know you're gonna do it with such aplomb!)

[walpurgis]

.??? I'm having trouble with that? Please share your thoughts.

A ball and socket unipivot bearing. The arm carrying the socket and the arm stem has the ball (a hemisphere would be adequate). Air being pumped through the stem to the ball, which would have mulitple fine drillings to distribute air around the ball surface, providing a thin 'cushion' within the socket. Much as is done longitudinally with an air bearing linear tracker.

[Mr Kipling]

You're not a man of little intelligence, Geoff, so do not fancy a go at a linear air bearing? Arm tube resonance and lossy bearings are bypassed in one fell swoop.

Always admired John Bicht's approach to design. Some moan about the look of the Mission 774 (which he designed, of course). But it's a case of form following function. It's a simple, effective, design. What reason to tart it up? And it's not to say that JB couldn't combine both functionality & form equally into a design. His Versa Dynamics Model 1.0 turntable, and matching stand, clearly shows that:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170325/b8b2570e8c7217a707096d7b3b624e52.jpg

Looking at this again got me inspired with regards an air bearing design. Have some 1" bar and a mount for it coming. Wondering how the bore in the cartridge platform for the delivery of air should be determined.

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[walpurgis]

You're not a man of little intelligence, Geoff, so do not fancy a go at a linear air bearing?

Thought about it. Linear arms come with their own set of issues to surmount.

[Mr Kipling]

Aye... Life's a compromise.

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[alphaGT]

A ball and socket unipivot bearing. The arm carrying the socket and the arm stem has the ball (a hemisphere would be adequate). Air being pumped through the stem to the ball, which would have mulitple fine drillings to distribute air around the ball surface, providing a thin 'cushion' within the socket. Much as is done longitudinally with an air bearing linear tracker.

I see what you're getting at. A good visualization, and sounds very feasible. The ball and socket could even be reversed? With the ball on the arm, and the socket with tiny holes to levitate the ball. I'm not sure what difference it makes? But it could go either way. I had an idea of balancing arms, like a tight rope walker, that would reach below the pivotal center with weights, you could screw up and down to adjust the azimuth. An idea I had for a standard unipivot, I do enjoy looking at all of the many tonearm designs, to see how different engineers approach the same problems.


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[walpurgis]

The French turntable company ERA had interesting ideas regarding tonearms. Worth a look.

[Barry]

All it's doing is increasing the effective arm mass in the horizontal plane with virtually no increase in effective mass in the vertical plane.

[Frazeur1]

Or buy a Well Tempered and get rid of the bearings and all for the most part(A Decca probably wouldn't work on a WT anyway, maybe?). But what would be the fun in that? Air bearings are an interesting thing, but as Geoff has mentioned, they also bring about their own issues, and generally not cheap. Fun stuff though!