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Tiger Paw Javelin Tone Arm

The Javelin looks great and the fact it is a drop in replacement for Linn arms is the icing on the cake. Keep up the good work, we need more small companies offering products like this!
 
As a matter of interest, why did Naim discontinue the ARO?

Not for lack of demand, I'm sure.
 
As a matter of interest, why did Naim discontinue the ARO?

Not for lack of demand, I'm sure.
Funnily enough they sold less than 1200 in total! Howvere they did have trouble sourcing parts and demand did not encourage them to get another batch made.
 
Thanks for the interest, appreciate many of the comments - and Javelin is now making it's way out to dealers. Hidden Systems (Windsor) have theirs installed, and it will be with Cymbiosis (Leics), Signals (Ipswich), Adventures in Hifi (Chester) this week.

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Afternoon all,

Perhaps I can add some insight as to how the Javelin sounds as I am in the fortunate position of having heard both the prototype and the production Javelin in my home as part of the original listening tests and as the main event for the exclusive preview last Saturday. In fact the picture taken at the start of the thread is mine, taken in my living room last Saturday and I assume lifted off the HiFi Kabin forum.

I have always loved the Aro and prefered it to the Ekos. Even the current SE. When Linn produced the Keel-A it levelled the playing field doing wonders for the Aro.

I have always wondered why Naim stopped production and fantasised what an Aro II might sound like. The answer is the Javelin. In direct A/B the Javelin has all the melodic tunefulness of the Aro and it’s wonderful sweet tone but adds fantastic dynamics and realism. It is super quick and articulate in playing the tune with notes starting and stopping so much more precisely than the Aro. It has lost none of the Aro’s Strengths or character but has evolved by clever design and listening into what I consider to be the finest tonearm on the market. It sounds so realistic both in the way the musicians perform and how they would sound in real life.

Last Saturday we were able to hear the Javelin on a TP Stratos against my highly spece’d Klimax level LP12. Everyone present thought my deck and system sounded stunning, until we then played the same track on the Stratos-Javelin deck which was so realistic sounding, it made my LP12 sound like a Rega Planar 3! The sense of holographic individual performers all doing their own thing yet contributing to the sum of the whole was wonderful. The dynamics of the 45rpm Tin Pan Alley track and the Vanessa Fernandez track Here but I’m gone we’re breathtaking and the insights into the performance were of a level well beyond my Klimax LP12. So much so, that I think the Ekos SE is in trouble!

At least 60% of those listening were Ekos users and were stunned by the Javelin. We played 34 tracks with each person bringing their own records so that they were well prepared to listen to music they knew really well. There was not a single criticism of the Javelin as it was just so far ahead of my deck. The score was Stratos-Javelin 34: my deck nil! And yet when played on my deck the track sounded superb but the TP combo just killed it!

The Javelin sounds amazing, looks superb, is supremely engineered and in my opinion will be a real game changer for the LP12 and many other turntables such as the old Garrads and Thorens TD124’s out there, which have been begging for an arm like the Javelin with its superb musicality, it’s wonderfully sweet neutral tone and it’s amazing dynamics.

TP have done really well and I have all ready ordered mine!
 
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Looks very nice. Anyone looking at an Akurate level LP12 will surely have to give this a serious listen when a new Akito is £1630!

The Akito was the biggest con in audio history. I bought an Akito 1 for around £160 around 1992. It was then considered pretty much the equivalent of an RB250, though with different applications. It was nicely made and finished and easy to set up and use, but hardly special.

When Linn decided to drop the Ittok, which was no doubt rather expensive to produce.. c.f the Akito, they simply changed the paint finish on the Akito, claimed better bearings and whacked the price up to £500.

Does anyone really buy it at £1630?

The best arm I've had on any of my decks is my Rega based Audiomods Series V. Cost £805.
 
The Akito was the biggest con in audio history. I bought an Akito 1 for around £160 around 1992. It was then considered pretty much the equivalent of an RB250, though with different applications. It was nicely made and finished and easy to set up and use, but hardly special.

When Linn decided to drop the Ittok, which was no doubt rather expensive to produce.. c.f the Akito, they simply changed the paint finish on the Akito, claimed better bearings and whacked the price up to £500.

Does anyone really buy it at £1630?

I have an Akito mk1 which I bought for £150 in 1991. I also have a Rega RB300 which I bought on eBay for about £100 and an Ittok which came from eBay for about £300. Given the prices keep going up, I think I will hang onto all of them long term!
 
I just checked on eBay and there is an Ekos MkII at £1850 which looks anything but immaculate (clearly someone has installed a cartridge "Linn tight" which has chewed at the headshell), so £1800 for a brand new design and device looks very reasonable to me given the current market.
 
I have a Notts Analogue Omega that betters an Ittok on an LP12. It's currently on my Garrard, I'd put the combination up against any LP12.
 
Interested to know which arm you bought which was better.

Ok not a totally fair comparision but..... My LP12 Lingo IttokLV3 both went. I got a s/h Gyro with Orbe platter and an Audiomods Classic, which blew away the LP 12. Next, rebuilt the Gyro to an Orbe and added an Audiomods SV Micrometer. Another 'step change' in all areas.

It's undeniable that the LV3MkII was beautifully built and finished, but it is easily bettered for SQ now.
 


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