Linear tracking

[stereofanboy]

I don't think anyone ever said linear arms have zero error, yet this is what you seem to be arguing against. Linear arms have less error, and no skating force.

Well, except for that one guy that did say it.

Keep going guys, this is interesting stuff.

 

[Satch]

As an owner of a Goldmund TT with linear arm I have to say it is the best sounding combintion I've ever had - by far. I don't think the tracking error is zero, since the correction mechanism to move the arm to the proper position obviously only works if the error is already there. But I feel that the error is considerably smaller than with a uni pivot arm - at least in my brain.

In theory, linear is better than uni pivot - in the real world there are many difficulties achieving this superior performance. I'd say that in lower price ranges uni pivot arms are the better choice, but if you're willing (and able!) to fork out some serious money, linear tracking might have advantages. But neither of them are, and will ever be, perfect. For the time being though, I don't think I'll say goodbye to my trusty linear tracker.

 

[merrylander]

This has been beaten to death many times here but seems to rise from the dead with every coming spring. As the owner of a Rega Planar 2 with an RB300 arem and a Yamaha PX-2 linear I have a foot in both camps.

The RB300 is a pivot arm and like any pivot based arm is only tangential to the groove at two point of the arc.

The PX-2 has a tangential error of somewhere around 0.01 degree or some suc, the paperwork is downstairs.

All that said the degree of error in the pivoting arm will never cause the tracking distortion to rise above 1% and if you can hear that then bless you.

 

[analoghifi]

Although I have pivot styled tables left, I still favour the linear tracking system. Although as mentioned some great pivot arms have proven their close accuaracy. Not saying that Linear is inferior over the pivot style but in principal, most major recordings were most likely recorded with cutterheads traveling in the linear fashion. In my opinion, the better sounding playback is much more exact in the linear fashion as it was recorded that way. What it boils down to is how well that Linear system is made.
I remembered someone asking me this same thing when they came to get some lacquers cut some years ago. I told him my opinion then and he seemed to have taken it personal, he swore to pivot arms for the reasons of A) he paid $1700.00 for his setup and didnt want anyone telling him otherwise B) nothing sounded better then his turntable. LOL! i personally didnt care, he was just happy with the lacquers I cut for him.
I used to have an Aiwa Linear Table. For those who are familiar with the characteristics of lacquers, they sound beautiful in its first set of plays but eventually the grooves erode and wear as the lacquer material is quite soft. I found playing the lacquers on the pivot arms you often hear one side of the channel chewing up before the centerpoint of the overhang, then the other channel getting chewed up after the centerpoint of the overhang. While tracking force and antiskating and VTA's are set at its optimum, the strain on the groove walls are extremely faint but evident.
On the aiwa linear system, I found I was able to get way more plays out of the lacquer before the highs started to dim out. The wear characteristics were evenly porportioned althroughout the recording.
So That basically told me that a linear system was a little bit more easier on the grooves then the pivot style. The pivot style didnt do any HUGE wear characteristics, but you did hear the extremely faint chewing in the high frequencies.
Vinyl, which is a much harder material then lacquer, will definitely keep the groove characteristics in for a long time. This is when the debates come where people favour pivot over linear and vice versa.

 

[dread31]

I have both pivot arms and linear trackers. And I find that the sound quality isn't much different at all, so long as the machine is properly set up and functioning properly.

Dave

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I have used linear arms and pivoted arms in my past and present. My linear arm was a Rabco back in the day. Had a Souther later on for a while. And with records which were flat and centered, they were fine if slow to cue up. They didn't handle off centre or warped discs well and using 45 RPM singles was a klutz. Loved their tracking and sound when all was right. When the radio station I worked at bought Technics SP 10 Mk II tables and SME 3012 tonearms and I installed them, I traded in my Souther and the old Kenwood armless table, and bought a SP-15 new and a Audio-Technica ATP-16T new and never looked back. I decided that I needed something less tweaky after work. I loved this combo's sound and daily trouble free ruggedness and speed accuracy so much, I had to have one.

 

[iLUVanalog]

That "expert by conjecture" comment is absolutely correct. Competitors start specious arguments or rumors that any engineer or scientist (in a relevant field) can tell you are borderline (or completely) ridiculous, or taken way out of context, or extremely exaggerated, and those rumors somehow take on an undying life of their own, in the hands of people who have no relevant experience. Linear tonearms "crabwalk" (but even the cheap ones that do, are still WAY closer to a correct tangent, more than 95 percent of the time, compared to a pivot-arm). Direct drive motors "cog" (but only the earlier models, and only when you remove the platter, which is like trying to run a belt-drive motor without half the spindle.) Such distortions, half-truths and outright lies live on as widespread misconceptions.

There were --and are-- a number of excellent linear trackers made.

I and at least one other AKer (that I know of) own Pioneer PL-L1 linear trackers. VERY NICE turntables, by any measure.

Goldmund has made some great-sounding linear trackers, although theirs are not always easy to keep in good working condition.

Among new turntables, the Clearaudio statement and some others are also linear-tracking, and it's hard to fault their sound unless you are being ridiculously golden-ears picky.

It is simpler and cheaper to make a belt-drive pivot-arm TT than a DD linear tracker. Companies that tried to make the latter types at a modest price point inevitably made too many compromises, which gave the designs a bad name. But the companies that did things right made some great TTs and arms. Just not cheap ones. [The ultimate example is probably the Rockport Sirius III, a DD linear tracker that many believe is still the best TT ever made.]

Granted, the Clearaudio and Goldmund are outstanding performers, but the cost is WAY prohibitive, especially the Goldmund.