Hi Martin,

Forgive my facetious remarks concerning the arm - I am especially envious, as it is an arm that has fascinated me since I first became aware of it back in the early '80s.

Despite that, or because of that, I have a number of questions to ask of you:

  • 1. Are you using your cartridge (AT33?) under the same conditions (i.e. same tracking force, bias and VTA) as you did using your (9"?) Jelco?
    How does the cueing work? Looking at the photos it would appear that the arm lift/lower acts on that part of the arm which can only move in the horizontal plane. I assume that the short, vertical moving, arm stub is arranged so that in its rest position it hangs slightly below horizontal, so that when cue'd the correct VTA is achieved.


  • 2. Is the tracking force achieved solely through adjustment of the counterbalance weight of the short vertical moving stub?

Finally, I have several versions of the Stravinsky 'Firebird'. I'm aware of the Mercury 'Living Presence' version but have never heard it. I do have a couple of these recordings and think well of them, but am aware/suspicious of the 'hype' that surrounds them. (Suspicious of the need for the use of three microphones). Do you have any specific comments on this Mercury recording?

Regards