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Budget tonearm?

MotherSky said:
I built a Hadcock-ish arm using just the upper bearing assembly and headshell from an early scrap GH228...
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Which would have been quite a few of them in many respects...

Must have been around late 79/ early 80, I remember showing the Hadcock to a Japanese gentleman from Audio Technica (the founder's grandson, IIRC).

They had just launched the AT1010 and 1100, and he had asked what was popular at roughly the same price point. I think he was too polite to comment directly, but he did seek confirmation that the Hadcock sold well.

He might just have been being polite again, but to be fair he did seem quite impressed with the sound from a TD160 with Hadcock and Entre.

He was more impressed though with our Micro Seiki DDX1000 and particularly the MA505 arm on it. I think he considered that 'proper Japanese engineering.'
 
Darren L said:
I wouldn't know about 70's Hadcock tonearms, I was born in 72, my experience is with the late 90's 242se version, revised geometry, stainless steel arm tube and chrome finish and Incognito (Cardas copper) internal wiring.
Zero issues with fit or finish and certainly didn't 'drift' over a extended period of playing time. Okay, they're fiddly to set up if your lacking in manual dexterity and you certainly wouldn't compare the build or finish to say a SME or Brinkmann tonearm.
They're certainly not rolled off at frequency extremes and whilst the 242 performed well on a variety of turntables it really came to life on a NA Hyperspace with a good quality suitable MM or MC.
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Nothing wrong with the design, it could demonstrably sound very good; which for a dealer was the only reason for putting up with the bloody thing, but the implementation was decidedly agricultural and quality variances between samples were pretty rife.

The same thing applied to Scott Strachan's Syrinx, which I considered superior to the Ittok soundwise (if you got a good one) but the Ittok's (Japanese) fit & finish and sample consistency were again in a different league. Quality of that design has been likewise proved by better quality manufacture.

Cottage-industry hifi may have a certain charm to it in theory, but most cottages weren't especially well-built.
 
MotherSky said:
This chap's work is excellent - I built a Hadcock-ish arm using just the upper bearing assembly and headshell from an early scrap GH228 - I ended up buying one of these counterweights as it worked out far cheaper than making my own once I'd factored in the time.

This design also makes azimuth setting far easier
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Thanks! Yes, I'm aware of his stuff, and I've bought a couple of non-Hadcock things from him in the past. I will try to get original parts in the first instance, as I'll be selling them all, but now my old buddy Mike Harris of Moth Marketing is gone, it'll be even harder to get Hadcock bits, I expect.
 
I must of got a good one @notevenclose or maybe George got better at building them as he got older, I'm sure the chrome finish wouldn't of been done in house given the process , he certainly was a gentleman.
To be honest now I'm older I do value things like build quality and finish more, I guess I was prepared to put up with the 'cottage industry' quality given the price and sound quality.
Funny you mention the Syrinx, my older brother had one mounted on a Source TT, it always sounded good.
 
Mr Pig said:
Unipivots are great if you like what they do. Liquid, natural midrange but iffy bass, soft treble and not the most punchy and dynamic things. If I only wanted to listen to female vocal then sure but I don't.
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I suspect that an awful lot of people do not recognise that. I certainly do not.

I have used 6 different unipvots on an LP12 and a Hyperspace (not all on both), and two gimbal arms.

I don't really recognise the hassles with Hadcock mechanics either, although I have to say that I have only ever used ones mecahnically, if not cosmetically, the same as the current versions. All of the joints on a Hadcock are adjustable through 360 degrees, which, if you are not mechanically minded and/or don't approach set-up logically, can cause problems, and I'd not want either the old scaffolding style armlift or the CBW-stub stuck in a rubber bush. Take your time and think what the hell you are doing with current versions and you'll be fine and once set-up, you can forget.
 
Thanks chaps I'll go look at the regas and decide which to buy.
I used to like fiddling with stuff but life changed and now I can't be bothered, so I'll give unipivots a miss.
 
cubastreet said:
Thanks chaps I'll go look at the regas and decide which to buy.
I used to like fiddling with stuff but life changed and now I can't be bothered, so I'll give unipivots a miss.
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Fair enough, Rega tonearms are a good choice, there is a Roksan Tabriz just showed up this morning in the Trade classifieds section, not a unipivot and fiddle and fuss free, I've no connection to the seller.
 
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cubastreet said:
Thanks chaps I'll go look at the regas and decide which to buy.
I used to like fiddling with stuff but life changed and now I can't be bothered, so I'll give unipivots a miss.
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Just buy the most recent and best model you can afford. Yes, there are other good sounding tonearms available for good prices but do they have a lifetime warranty? Can you even get them fixed at all? Rega is a predictable and boring choice and for some people that's enough to rule them out but if you want a safe, reliable arm for sensible money they're almost impossible to beat.
 
Darren L said:
Fair enough, Rega tonearms are a good choice, there is a Roksan Tabriz just showed up this morning in the Trade classifieds section, unipivot but fiddle and fuss free, I've no connection to the seller.
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The Tabriz isn't a unipivot - it has conventional gimbal bearings. You may be thinking of the Nima.
 
Minio said:
Cheap tonearm



Actually a cheap headshell.
You get what you pay for.
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This is also something to look out with Regas which can have azimuth variations. I heard from a very reliable tonearm fettler that when rega select their arms they grade and use the straighter ones for their more expensive arms. Having seen a significant out of azimuth head on an rb250 arm I had its worth checking this.
 
Graham67 said:
This is also something to look out with Regas which can have azimuth variations. I heard from a very reliable tonearm fettler that when rega select their arms they grade and use the straighter ones for their more expensive arms.
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I've not encountered that but it sounds reasonable. I've found azimuth errors on virtually every turntable I've checked but it's always on the deck, not the arm. The Rega armtube is a casting so some not being perfect sounds logical. On the better arms the underside of the headshell is machined so it is going to be flat but the cheap arms might not be. Like I say, I've had a ton of Rega arms and not had a problem but it's worth checking.
 
Here we can see the origin of the problem -



These are on Ebay for c £8.50.
All samples are the same afaik.
Shame they couldn't set the four pin connector straight.

It takes a couple of washers under one side of the cartridge to get stylus azimuth right.
 
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