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Supatrac: the world's best tonearm?

tuga said:
@sonddek , are you allowed to disclose whether Fremer charges for his reviews?
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He has charged me absolutely nothing. He has approached it with enthusiasm and professionalism from the beginning and it has been a pleasure dealing with him. During the review process we had very little communication except the necessary - I left him alone to get on with it and he barely troubled me even though I made it clear I was on hand to give installation advice and answer any questions, just as I am for any normal customer. I'm sure that he wanted to experience it just as if he were a normal customer, and I think he did. Except for the rubber underwear.
 
sonddek said:
He has charged me absolutely nothing. He has approached it with enthusiasm and professionalism from the beginning and it has been a pleasure dealing with him. During the review process we had very little communication except the necessary - I left him alone to get on with it and he barely troubled me even though I made it clear I was on hand to give installation advice and answer any questions, just as I am for any normal customer. I'm sure thay he wanted to experience it just as if he were a normal customer, and I think he did. Except for the rubber underwear.
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Thanks.
 
As regards advertising, as yet I've bought none, but I've now enquired because I think Tracking Angle is a natural place for me to advertise, and I like the way they include a tidy list of advertising panels towards the bottom of the page. The advertisers are generally excellent audio companies and I think it would be good for my brand to be seen alongside them.
 
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments. I've just done the Bristol show and it was an overwhelmingly positive and happy experience to see a lot of enthusiastic audiophiles coming together in our pursuit of reproduced musical enjoyment.

My intention is to keep my products within the reach of audiophiles. I have as much desire to offer cheaper products as more expensive ones, but I'm callow and new to this and it's all about finding ways to do it while still earning a living.
 
sonddek said:
... this review has concentrated my mind on the shortcomings of the Blackbird and the need to make it better still. Level-pegging with other arms is not good enough. I need to improve its performance so that it exceeds by such a margin that reviewers will openly state that it has no equal. This is necessary because a suspended arm will always have disadvantages in installation and set-up compared to simple gimbal arms. I also still have the market disadvantages of obscurity and a short track-record. Whether it's the best, it's about to get better.

Onward and upward!
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Whilst I commend the sentiment, as a business model, it's perhaps not the best idea to put it out there so openly. Why would I buy one now if it's going to be loads better in the future ? Unless the price is going to be loads higher as well, in which case ...
 
yuckyamson said:

Supatrac: the world's best tonearm​

Looks like it:

trackingangle.com

The Supatrac Blackbird Farpoint—A Tonearm Like No Other

a genuine mechanical and sonic breakthrough
trackingangle.com trackingangle.com

Richard, put on the rubber underpants and ask your wife to pinch you: no you're not dreaming.

... But keep dreaming. Big.
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No… it’s not. Mebbe in 4/5 years when it’s sold 10,000 and it’s in its 12th/13th iteration, but, sadly will probably cost £12000. So most folk will not be able to afford it. This sort of unnecessary exxageration, is probably exactly what the inventor does not want to hear. As far as I can see ,apart from around half a dozen folk on here who’ve heard it, it still has a long way to go. I wish the inventor the very best of luck in his onward journey and hope he has great success with it. But, ffs leave the hyperbole at the door…😎
 
John said:
I believe so, it was mentioned in the review and from the video clips of the arm in action, it appears so.

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Only $360,000 for the turntable 😱. I played the video on YouTube on my TV, output via HDMI to my Denon Receiver using the Pure Direct stereo setting. The TT combo sounds very nice, as far as one can tell from a digital capture. My guess is that it would still sound very nice on a real-world TT.
 
Fremer addressed his equipment in one, or more, of his YT videos. He buys the equipment he regards as his reference and he is open that he doesn't pay full price, he gets an industry discount (he won't say what he actually pays but, then, I don't think he should have to). Even with that discount he could not afford the OMA K3 turntable so he persuaded OMA to sell him their prototype that is functionally the same as production units but not as cosmetically finished. I don't know how much stuff he keeps on permanent/semi-permanent loan, he did a YT video on his cartridge collection - he has a lot of expensive cartridges and I can't imagine he bought them all (?). One thing he has said is that the money he makes from his set-up DVD gets ploughed back into buying equipment. As for his LP collection, I expect a lot of those expensive original pressings were bought when they were original and not expensive and he will be sent unsolicited review samples of a lot of stuff. I can't imagine that reviewing equipment is particularly lucrative and that may be why he broke with Stereophile as The Absolute Sound let's him have his Tracking Angle side-gig.
 
Locheeboy said:
No… it’s not. Mebbe in 4/5 years when it’s sold 10,000 and it’s in its 12th/13th iteration, but, sadly will probably cost £12000. So most folk will not be able to afford it. This sort of unnecessary exxageration, is probably exactly what the inventor does not want to hear. As far as I can see ,apart from around half a dozen folk on here who’ve heard it, it still has a long way to go. I wish the inventor the very best of luck in his onward journey and hope he has great success with it. But, ffs leave the hyperbole at the door…😎
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What wonderful irony in, "...FFS, leave the hyperbole at the door...."

I've read your missive a few times and still have yet to derive a point. Of course Supatrac will have to refine the execution--as any caring company would do--and of course the price will go up. It bears nothing relative to the fact that if you read the review, Fremer basically states that by trying to NOT use hyperbole, that this tonearm is a unique proposition to his listening experience, REGARDLESS of price.

How much more evidence do you want that the Supatrac is--for Fremer alone--at the absolute top of the heap in the world of tonearms?

FFS.
 
Locheeboy said:
No… it’s not. Mebbe in 4/5 years when it’s sold 10,000 and it’s in its 12th/13th iteration, but, sadly will probably cost £12000.
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No. It's a carefully developed product which requires no further iteration to bring huge pleasure from records, and I have no intention whatsoever to charge £12,000 for it. If I can find a way, I would like to make it cheaper, but it takes a huge amount of skilled work to produce and I deserve to make some sort of living from it, along with the distributors and dealers who will convey and support it.
Locheeboy said:
This sort of unnecessary exxageration, is probably exactly what the inventor does not want to hear.
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You have no evidence whatsoever that it is exaggeration. You have a rational skepticism because "game changer" claims often prove groundless, a phenomenon which Michael Fremer addressed in his review. However, sometimes skepticism precedes revelation.

Locheeboy said:
As far as I can see ,apart from around half a dozen folk on here who’ve heard it, it still has a long way to go. I wish the inventor the very best of luck in his onward journey and hope he has great success with it. But, ffs leave the hyperbole at the door…😎
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Over a hundred people have bought Blackbirds so far, and have invariably reported great satisfaction, and quite a few reviews have indulged in what you might call hyperbole. It seems to me that the principal difference between you and the hyperbolic reviewers is that they have lived with it and you haven't heard it. It seems unwise to accuse people of exaggeration and hyperbole with so little evidence.

It doesn't have "a long way to go" - the Blackbird has landed. It's a mature and original product at a competitive price as all the reviews say.
 
eisenach said:
Whilst I commend the sentiment, as a business model, it's perhaps not the best idea to put it out there so openly. Why would I buy one now if it's going to be loads better in the future ? Unless the price is going to be loads higher as well, in which case ...
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I doubt any future version will be "loads better". It's hard to do that twice ;-)

Be sure also not to buy a telephone, a car, a computer, a washing machine or a nasal trimmer. I've heard a rumour that they are all going to be "loads better in the future".
 
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sonddek said:
Yes - producing a new instruction manual from the original one for the Farpoint version was not a trivial process. I'm working on it. I'm also aware that an installation video is more urgent than ever.

I had been so busy at the Bristol show that I didn't email Michael Fremer for 24 hours after the review publication so he emailed me with concern that he had upset me! I reassured him that I'm delighted with the review and that I will work hard on the shortcomings that he has highlighted.

Above all this review has concentrated my mind on the shortcomings of the Blackbird and the need to make it better still. Level-pegging with other arms is not good enough. I need to improve its performance so that it exceeds by such a margin that reviewers will openly state that it has no equal. This is necessary because a suspended arm will always have disadvantages in installation and set-up compared to simple gimbal arms. I also still have the market disadvantages of obscurity and a short track-record. Whether it's the best, it's about to get better.

Onward and upward!
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I, for one, wish you every success with your product. Without people like yourself, people would still be listening to 78's on an old
gramaphone. I applaud anyone that attempts to further sound reproduction in a world that is already full of hifi equipment, especially when you are trying to produce your product at a fair price. Some companies out there would be capitalising on the fact that it seems to be such a seemingly high performing product.
 
gizza said:
I, for one, wish you every success with your product. Without people like yourself, people would still be listening to 78's on an old
gramaphone. I applaud anyone that attempts to further sound reproduction in a world that is already full of hifi equipment, especially when you are trying to produce your product at a fair price. Some companies out there would be capitalising on the fact that it seems to be such a seemingly high performing product.
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I second this. Unfortunately I can't afford it. Ingenuity, fresh thinking and perseverance has got you this far. Excellent stuff 👍
 
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