Magna Audio's custom-made counterweight balance and armboard service!

[Magna Audio]

Great Loo. Glad to hear the sound is improved - that's very good feed back to file along with Marco, Martin, Rob etc
Excellent that your template was accurate enough for it to fit just fine too.

Regards,
Steve

Luxman PD300 with a fantastic new Speedy Steve armboard , a perfect fit , perfect weight for the suspension , and wow does it sound good I wasnot expecting a sonic upgrade but its transformed the Lux the sound is so organic and natural and the depth ooh err sublime
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thanks Steve your a true craftsman
Paul

[twotone]

Hi Steve, finally got the tonearm and armboard fitted over the weekend.

The arm board is a perfect fit and so too is the tonearm, I had a wee bit of a problem trying to get the arm lift out of the way of the armrest and just generally getting the arm to sit correctly relative to the platter but I managed that tonight.

Just got to fine tune the cart now, I fitted it quickly to hear the tonearm and set it up mainly by sight and pretty roughly.

The sound of the deck has transformed to something wonderful, it sounds like a different deck now, like a veil has been lifted.

The bass is astonishing, I've got musical bass now and there's seperation between individual instruments and the sound stage has opened right up.

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow.

I have to say though that in retrospect, I wish that I had sent the arm to you so that you could have installed it in the base and set it up properly.

I basically stumbled about getting the arm set up correctly, I was terrified that I would damage the cartridge at some point during the course of all of it.

BTW, stripping the old arm out of the deck sure ain't for the faint hearted

Thanks again for all of your advice and help.

[Marco]

Luxman PD300 with a fantastic new Speedy Steve armboard , a perfect fit , perfect weight for the suspension , and wow does it sound good I wasnot expecting a sonic upgrade but its transformed the Lux the sound is so organic and natural and the depth ooh err sublime...

The sound of the deck has transformed to something wonderful, it sounds like a different deck now, like a veil has been lifted.

The bass is astonishing, I've got musical bass now and there's seperation between individual instruments and the sound stage has opened right up.

Nice one guys, I told you that installing an ebony armboard would have significant sonic benefits, as well as aesthetic ones!

Unfortunately, most folk think that armboards are just something that are necessary to mount your tonearm on, and don't really consider their sonic impact. The reality is that the material an armboard is made from will have a fundamental influence on the performance of the tonearm fitted to it (and thus that of the overall T/T) - and ebony, in that respect, is a fantastic material for audio purposes!

Therefore, I'm not surprised that Paul and Tony have reported such profound sonic improvements with their T/Ts, after having ebony armboards fitted, as indeed I did when I done it. Quite simply, in some cases, fitting one of these armboards could provide as big (or even a bigger) improvement than fitting a new tonearm...........

So get yours now, folks, and release the latent sonic potential in your turntable!

Marco.

[Oldpinkman]

. Quite simply, in some cases, fitting one of these armboards could provide as big (or even a bigger) improvement than fitting a new tonearm...........

Marco.

That may depend on the arm in question. And the turntable - ebony does nothing for a PT. But clearly it works well in other situations. Certainly arm matching to armboard to turntable is important. But a bigger improvement than a new arm? - only if the new arm is nothing special.

[Oldpinkman]

and ebony is a fantastic material for audio purposes!

Marco.

I know what you mean, and you are of course right in the context you use it. But it's a spectacular over-extension of a principle taken literally. Ebony platters? Ebony tonearms, cantilevers? Ebony turntable feet? You get my point

[MartinT]

The Technics responds very well to ebony as an armboard. I suspect it's the better fit into the cast recess (I was never very happy with metal boards and the possibility of only a few points of contact around the circumference, despite the gasket), and the damping characteristics of the wood itself.

[Marco]

I know what you mean, and you are of course right in the context you use it. But it's a spectacular over-extension of a principle taken literally. Ebony platters? Ebony tonearms, cantilevers? Ebony turntable feet? You get my point

Sure, and that's why I've now added "in that respect", in order that its use is qualified and for the sentence to now read as: "and, in that respect, ebony is a fantastic material for audio purposes!" I suspect that its resonance characteristics favour its use in certain audio applications - a fact which is borne out in user testimonies.

In that respect, ebony has also been used, with great success, as an armtube material on some rather exotic tonearms, which is where I got the idea from to use it to make armboards for various T/Ts (yes, another great idea from your leader ), with of course the expert help of Steve

That may depend on the arm in question. And the turntable - ebony does nothing for a PT. But clearly it works well in other situations. Certainly arm matching to armboard to turntable is important. But a bigger improvement than a new arm? - only if the new arm is nothing special...

Well, what I'm mainly getting at here is that the sonic effect of fitting an ebony armboard to some turntables could be rather dramatic, and may not be subtle, as perhaps was expected. Also, in some circumstances, the improvement could be greater than that achieved by changing tonearm, such as if one were merely upgrading within a manufacturer's product range to the next model up, as opposed to a fundamentally better arm from a different manufacturer.

The message here is therefore essentially this: expect BIG things to happen, sonically, when substituting a 'common-or-garden' aluminium armboard, on a Technics T/T, for one of Steve's ebony babies!!



Marco.

[Magna Audio]

Great feedback and discussion.

Well that's it!!! I want in on this action...

I'll have to make an Ebony board (4 sided polygon) for my SP-10 won't I
Eat my own dog food

We'll see if SP-10, slate plinth and ebony jel.

[MartinT]

Now that's the kind of experiment that might pay dividends. Go for it, and let us know how it sounds!

[Magna Audio]

Only snagg is I need 8.5" x 5" x 3/4" and that length is bigger than my faithful supplier can do. Don't want joins etc. Google to the rescue...