Show us your cartridges and/or tonearms!

[davidro]

G'day all

Not sure if this has been done already but I couldn't find one so if it's a repeat the mod can kindly delete it perhaps.

As we all know, cartridge and tonearm take up big part of this vinyl hobby and we, or at least I, love their looks!

So why don't we show each other what we've got?! Here are my humble & modest parts!

Ortofon

Hitachi PS48 tonearm

 

[reneborg]

Here's mine

The tonearm is a Summiko MMT on a Sota Sapphire I was lucky enough to acquire recently for less than I could have ever dreamed of. I run this Ortofon OM-30, a Denon DL-160, and a Shure 97MXe on it.

 

[cactuscowboy]

Perhaps the most interesting would be a recently completed DIY oak unipivot, with a Grado Platinum Reference cartridge. This was my first attempt at building a tonearm and the results are outstanding, from a listening/sound quality standpoint.

There's a continuous run of Cardas tonearm wire from cartridge to RCA jacks. The pivot is a jewel quality stainless steel with matching sapphire vee bearing. Adjustable overhang, VTA, VTF, but no antiskate installed yet. Effective length 12". Pivot point is level with surface of record on platter. Pivot point and stylus tip are at equal distance from center of tonearm wand. The counterweight is adjustable up-down in relation to the tonearm, so I can fine-tune center of gravity.

I do plan on building more DIY unipivots and refining the design.

 

[dread31]

Perhaps the most interesting would be a recently completed DIY oak unipivot, with a Grado Platinum Reference cartridge. This was my first attempt at building a tonearm and the results are outstanding, from a listening/sound quality standpoint.

There's a continuous run of Cardas tonearm wire from cartridge to RCA jacks. The pivot is a jewel quality stainless steel with matching sapphire vee bearing. Adjustable overhang, VTA, VTF, but no antiskate installed yet. Effective length 12". Pivot point is level with surface of record on platter. Pivot point and stylus tip are at equal distance from center of tonearm wand. The counterweight is adjustable up-down in relation to the tonearm, so I can fine-tune center of gravity.

I do plan on building more DIY unipivots and refining the design.

Dude, that is awesome! My brain is now abuzz with notions of attempting something of this sort, thanks to you.

Dave

 

[trutrent]

Reneborg beautiful setup my eyes are drooling.

Cactusbob that is amazing how you combine 2 loves of wood and music! very impressive.

 

[dean man jim]

Micro Seiki MA-505XS arm, here on my modified TD-150. Cartridges include Empire 1000 ZE/X, Empire 600LAC, Empire LTD750, Empire 888TE, Acutex 410E, Pickering TL-2S, Sumiko Andante P-76, Astatic MF-200, SoundSmith-ed DL 103 in a diy wood body. A few images...

 

[jeremyjustic]

ortofon 2m red on a thorens td 160, a match made in heaven by tiny baby angel hands:thmbsp:

 

[Bob_in_OKC]

Here's me trying to align the Goldring 1042. This didn't work on the other point, though. Had to go much further forward.

 

[melofelo]

hats off to cactuscowboy..that thing looks freaking awesome! :thmbsp:

 

[Isotonic]

That's really cool Cactuscowboy. Is it a medium mass tonearm?

 

[DC]

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Here's my favorite combo I ever had! Technics SP-25 motor unit, Audio-Technica ATP-16T tonearm with Stanton 681A broadcast cartridge installed. Here it is at work:

 

[davidro]

Perhaps the most interesting would be a recently completed DIY oak unipivot, with a Grado Platinum Reference cartridge. This was my first attempt at building a tonearm and the results are outstanding, from a listening/sound quality standpoint.

There's a continuous run of Cardas tonearm wire from cartridge to RCA jacks. The pivot is a jewel quality stainless steel with matching sapphire vee bearing. Adjustable overhang, VTA, VTF, but no antiskate installed yet. Effective length 12". Pivot point is level with surface of record on platter. Pivot point and stylus tip are at equal distance from center of tonearm wand. The counterweight is adjustable up-down in relation to the tonearm, so I can fine-tune center of gravity.

I do plan on building more DIY unipivots and refining the design.

Hats off to the look! :drool:

 

[RichardO]

Px-3

The 2m Red has already been posted, but I haven't seen any linear trackers yet.

Since a servo motor moves the tonearm across the entire record, the PX-3 is fully automatic. For this reason, its headshell lacks a finger lift.

 

[reneborg]

What a bunch of great looking gear! Thanks for posting those pics!

So many turntables, tonearms, and cartridges .... so little time.

 

[hags]

Syntec S220 w/Stanton 681 A

Picked up this NOS combo for $50 and I'm enjoying it on my Thorens TD-150 MkII ($10). Using an unfinished Cherry armboard for the time being.

The Syntec headshell that came with the arm (not shown) has a Shure V15 III HE on it which sounds absolutely fantastic on this combo.

 

[trutrent]

DC~ beautiful setup and photo

 

[cactuscowboy]

That's really cool Cactuscowboy. Is it a medium mass tonearm?

Although I've got real world experience in product design and manufacturing, I lack an Engineering degree and have no formal training in physics or calculus. So a lot of this design was based on intuition and gut feeling. Getting into the process, it quickly became evident that there were many considerations: mass and distribution thereof, resonance properties of various shapes & materials used, pendulum effect, moment of inertia, center of gravity, etc.... A bit mind-boggling if one really starts thinking about.

To answer your question...

I did not calculate effective mass of the tonearm, and I'm not totally clear on how to do so. I've got a hunch it would be considered "medium" to "high" in respect to effective mass. In actual use (just over 1 week, about 80-90 LPs), the Grado Platinum sings beautifully and tracks very well. It performs far beyond my expectations and challenges any assumption that "professional design" and "cost a lot of money" are prerequisites for excellent performance in a tonearm.

The next design will also be unipivot, correcting errors made in this one and further refining performance.

 

[davidro]

Picked up this NOS combo for $50 and I'm enjoying it on my Thorens TD-150 MkII ($10). Using an unfinished Cherry armboard for the time being.

The Syntec headshell that came with the arm (not shown) has a Shure V15 III HE on it which sounds absolutely fantastic on this combo.

That's a hell of bargain. A lotta jealous from here :tears:

 

[onepixel]

Perhaps the most interesting would be a recently completed DIY oak unipivot, with a Grado Platinum Reference cartridge. This was my first attempt at building a tonearm and the results are outstanding, from a listening/sound quality standpoint.

There's a continuous run of Cardas tonearm wire from cartridge to RCA jacks. The pivot is a jewel quality stainless steel with matching sapphire vee bearing. Adjustable overhang, VTA, VTF, but no antiskate installed yet. Effective length 12". Pivot point is level with surface of record on platter. Pivot point and stylus tip are at equal distance from center of tonearm wand. The counterweight is adjustable up-down in relation to the tonearm, so I can fine-tune center of gravity.

I do plan on building more DIY unipivots and refining the design.

Very cool and awesome engineering!