Reed Tonearms

[Ammonite Audio]

I never stopped selling Reed tonearms but for some reason they 'fell off' the webshop, so I've re-instated the listings for Reed 2G and 3P models. Both are available in 9.5", 10.5" and 12" effective lengths, with Wenge, Makassar Ebony and Cocobolo wood options for the arm wands, and a myriad of wiring and termination options. The Reed 2G starts at £2895 for the 9.5" arm with standard Wenge wood arm wand and standard external wiring. The Reed 3P starts at £3450 with those same options.

There are hundreds of possible options for these arms, so please get in touch to discuss what's available. These are lovely tonearms and the Reed 3P is the best fixed headshell tonearm that I've ever used and heard, with 'on-the-fly' adjustment of both VTA and azimuth. These are truly lovely musical performers.

https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/product-category/tonearms/

https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Reed_3P_Overhead.jpg

[YNWaN]

Beautifully made things the Reed arms. Perhaps you could outline the main differences between the 2G and 3P models - is it just that the 3P offers more user adjustment?

[Ammonite Audio]

The arms look similar with identical mounting and VTA adjustment towers, and the wood arm wands are similar too, but the 3P does have 'on-the-fly' azimuth adjustment. The big difference concerns the bearing designs, which are different between the Reed 2G and 3P. The 2G has what they call a 'cardanic' bearing where the horizontal element is a rotating disc with a central 'nipple' with a sapphire cup at its tip, and there is another sapphire cup at the centre of the disc's bottom face. Sharp pins engage these cups from above and below to give a free-running and very secure horizontal platform. The vertical bearing consists of two small and sharp pins protruding from the base of the arm wand's quite chunky metal 'yoke' and these pins locate in two little sapphire cups on the upper surface of the horizontal rotating disc. The twin pins operate like a well-engineered twin-pivot system which is not unique to Reed. You can see the 'yoke' and the 'disc' it sits on in this picture:

https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Reed_2G_Rear.jpg

The Reed 3P has a magnetic horizontal bearing, with an open 'egg shaped' yoke held aloft at the bottom by magnetic repulsion and at the top by a pin that locates in the swinging 'on-the-fly' azimuth adjuster. The 3P's arm wand has small alloy tabs which hold the two downward pointing sharp pins, and these locate in sapphire cups on the rotating yoke, held in place by magnetic attraction. A simple lever mechanism tilts the whole of the 'egg' shaped yoke to change azimuth, but the clever bit is that the point of rotation is the stylus tip, not the centre of the yoke. Here's a picture:

https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/reed-3p.jpg

The Reed 2G is a lovely thing and by any standard a mighty fine sounding arm. I did originally think that, since the arm wands are so similar, that the 2G would sound very much like the 3P, but the pricing does indicate their respective musical pedigrees. The simple truth is that the magnetic bearing 3P does have a better performance and sounds more natural and musical, but nobody hearing the 2G in isolation would be dissatisfied.

[Boyse6748]

Very nice arms indeed.

If I didn’t already have the Dynavector 507 MkII (lovingly nicknamed, “The car Jack”), perhaps this might be my next arm.

Needless to say, the P3 is pretty good[emoji106] from what I’ve heard.

Hope you sell loads!!!! And there will be many happy people out there! And to boot a little less than half the price of the above or the SME V.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Mike Reed]

Hi Hugo,

What are the eff. mass figures for the two 12" versions, and are the arm leads continuous to RCAs or truncated in a socket?

Ta.

[Ammonite Audio]

Hi Mike

Reed quote effective mass for the 12" arms of 17g for the standard Wenge wood arm wand, and 19g for ebony and Cocobolo. The standard leads are continuous to RCAs, with a variety of options for cable type, length, RCA plugs, cryo treatment etc. Female RCA terminations are not available for the 2G nor 3P.

[Mike Reed]

Thanks Hugo.

The Reed is a lovely looking tonearm, having seen it in the flesh at John's and of course the name clicks !:)

[Vrajbasi]

The Reed is a lovely looking and sounding tonearm, superb value for money when you compare it to the obvious competition it has a earthy grounded quality with superb air and space the midrange is wonderful. I generally find most audio from eastern europe to be wonderful but quite often dismissed, the real gem is the 5t this is a very cleaver bit of kit superbly made while at 13k it is far from cheap compared to others in that price bracket it offers so much more especially when you look at the vertre at £35k the basic SAT at £30k the graham phantom elite at £12k the 5t is a cleaver bit of kit that sounds glorious.

[Ammonite Audio]

Indeed. The Reed 5T is an amazing thing to see in action, as in the video below. Audio enthusiasts often get really excited about the perceived need to eliminate tonearm tracing errors and think that parallel tracking arms are always better - my experience is that parallel trackers may get rid of the distortion but I've yet to hear one that sounds as good as a pivoted arm. The Reed 5T sounds just as good as any other Reed, but with zero tracing errors and distortion, without having articulating linkages like Thales. Neat thinking, if not entirely original, but like any Reed product very nicely executed.


https://youtu.be/ComdEnoR9vM

[Vrajbasi]

Indeed. The Reed 5T is an amazing thing to see in action, as in the video below. Audio enthusiasts often get really excited about the perceived need to eliminate tonearm tracing errors and think that parallel tracking arms are always better - my experience is that parallel trackers may get rid of the distortion but I've yet to hear one that sounds as good as a pivoted arm. The Reed 5T sounds just as good as any other Reed, but with zero tracing errors and distortion, without having articulating linkages like Thales. Neat thinking, if not entirely original, but like any Reed product very nicely executed.


https://youtu.be/ComdEnoR9vM

Have you lived and used with the likes of Rockport and Aitangent linier trackers? for me the Airtangent is the finest tonearm ever produced. Have you had the 5t as far as I know select audio the importer have not sold many. I have a friend who has both and the 5t and a couple of 3ps is clearly better it just sounds less mechanical it has a sence of space that is in another class.

[Ammonite Audio]

No, I have not. The price of the Reed 5T (starting at £12975 depending on options) is a bit beyond what I normally deal with, so in my shop it will always be strictly a special order item. I'd love to hear one, but I don't have a deck that will take it.

[Vrajbasi]

No, I have not. The price of the Reed 5T (starting at £12975 depending on options) is a bit beyond what I normally deal with, so in my shop it will always be strictly a special order item. I'd love to hear one, but I don't have a deck that will take it.

It one of the finest arms I have ever heard mounting is not easy, its a lovely bit of kit indeed.

[Beobloke]

I encountered the 5T for the first time this year at Munich and would love to try one.

[Vrajbasi]

I encountered the 5T for the first time this year at Munich and would love to try one.

would be stunning if you could get it to mount on the Nakamichi

[Ammonite Audio]

I never stopped selling Reed tonearms but for some reason they 'fell off' the webshop, so I've re-instated the listings for Reed 2G and 3P models. Both are available in 9.5", 10.5" and 12" effective lengths, with Wenge, Makassar Ebony and Cocobolo wood options for the arm wands, and a myriad of wiring and termination options. The Reed 2G starts at £2895 for the 9.5" arm with standard Wenge wood arm wand and standard external wiring. The Reed 3P starts at £3450 with those same options.

There are hundreds of possible options for these arms, so please get in touch to discuss what's available. These are lovely tonearms and the Reed 3P is the best fixed headshell tonearm that I've ever used and heard, with 'on-the-fly' adjustment of both VTA and azimuth.

These Reed tonearms are truly lovely musical performers and I will soon have a 12" Reed 3P (Cocobolo arm wand, upgrade cryo treated copper wiring) available for customer demonstrations.

https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/product-category/tonearms/

https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Reed_3P_Overhead.jpg