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DIY Tonearm

The problem with reviews about the Aro is that there are actually very few and those have been done were with it mounted on an LP12 of a vintage commensurate with the launch of the Aro. As such, said reviews are actually only really valid when taken within that context. The majority of Aro performance comment that one reads is just regurgitation of supposedly 'accepted wisdom' promoted as fact. I use an Aro on a different deck and can assure you that there is no apparent shortfall in bass extension or articulation.
 
I've lost which way this is going do we stay with a design that's base on the ARO with an Ekos type head-shell and Rega three point fixing and effective arm length?
 
YNWOAN said:
The problem with reviews about the Aro is that there are actually very few and those have been done were with it mounted on an LP12 of a vintage commensurate with the launch of the Aro. As such, said reviews are actually only really valid when taken within that context. The majority of Aro performance comment that one reads is just regurgitation of supposedly 'accepted wisdom' promoted as fact. I use an Aro on a different deck and can assure you that there is no apparent shortfall in bass extension or articulation.
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Brilliant. So let's just clone it then.
 
+1

The Aro is/was a terrific arm. Unquestionably.

I was going to say, this thread is suffering mission creep. Clone it. You have some killer diagrams, I bet many of the parts are off the shelf and need sourcing rather than machining.

Assemble a BOM.
Find the group buy trade off prices...
Machine the unique bits (head etc)

I'd love a DIY 12" Aro on my DIY TT but start with the actual design and then develop variants when the variables are understood.
 
Pedants unite! Your quite right - make a space in the buying department and rake a zero off the price!

You forgot the cable, cartridge clips, BNC connectors and the infamously difficult to source arm board connector!
 
YNWOAN said:
The problem with reviews about the Aro is that there are actually very few and those have been done were with it mounted on an LP12 of a vintage commensurate with the launch of the Aro.
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The Stereophile review used 5 turntables: Linn Sondek, Phonosophie P3, Roksan Xerxes, Platine Verdier and VPI HW19.
 
audioflyer said:
This look like someone else has had a go.

http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...otu&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np

http://www.hifisentralen.no/forumet...rsterkere-etc/64185-diy-unipivot-tonearm.html
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Yes I've seen the same arm on DiyAudio. The original Aro used an aluminium alloy for the arm tube so I'd probably go with something similar. I don't think carbon fibre is everything it's cracked up to be and I'm sure it would significantly change the character of the arm. I like the simple one piece pillar though.
 
In terms of the project scope:
  • 2014 Clone/remix of the Aro based on the available drawings and using latest technology
  • Cost constrained to under £200 per unit, simplifications made to the design to meet this target if necessary e.g. with the oil damped bearing component replaced with a simple one piece
  • Rega type arm base and geometry. There is a table of arm data here
  • Headshell modified to support 18-23 degree offset (by providing one or more slots) to enable 12" arm tube option

I think the first thing we need to do is compile a list of parts and start costing up the machining and identifying the "off the shelf" parts. A Google Spreadsheet is probably the best option to do that.
 
That all sounds good John but I'd be tempted to go with a Linn mount and geometry in the first instance and work out from that. If this does get off the ground I can see a few of these ending up on Sondeks and it would be so much easier for those to use a standard Sondek arm board. I'm easy as I'd ideally like to build a 12 inch arm but I'll happily commit to a 9 incher for the sake of the group buy. As it's audioflyer's thread I suppose it's his shout.
 
Chops54 said:
That all sounds good John but I'd be tempted to go with a Linn mount and geometry in the first instance and work out from that. If this does get off the ground I can see a few of these ending up on Sondeks and it would be so much easier for those to use a standard Sondek arm board. I'm easy as I'd ideally like to build a 12 inch arm but I'll happily commit to a 9 incher for the sake of the group buy. As it's audioflyer's thread I suppose it's his shout.
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I originally suggested Linn because I thought Ittok/Ekos users might want to try dropping one into the existing collar on their LP12 and others asked for Rega. It's not a big deal for me as I have an LP12 (Ittok) and a PT Export (RB300) so could use either. Would you want a 12" with Linn mount? I would guess not.

I actually don't think the mount is that important, you can build the majority of the arm completely independently of how it is mounted. Rega arms are slightly longer than Linn, which is easy to adjust for, and have a slightly different offset 21.63deg for Rega vs 24deg for Linn. When it comes to drilling holes, the difference between offsets is so tiny, I am not sure it would be worth machining different items.
 
John, I don't disagree with you, I was just running a few ideas past you that's all.
My own 12 inch arm does have a round mounting collar like the Linn and is held with three bolts. It's easy to machine and does the job.
 
John Channing said:
I originally suggested Linn because I thought Ittok/Ekos users might want to try dropping one into the existing collar on their LP12 and others asked for Rega..
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Collar diameter is my only issue as I have a one piece 10mm top plate (a la hyper rigid version of rega deck)... If it is >15mm dia pillar for the hadcock I can re drill the mount plate for my diy TT easily enough if it is smaller then I need to machine a collar, no biggie. Collar reducers are everywhere.

I want to keep the rega based audiomods arm but replace the 12" hadcock with this...
 
@Fox, I suspect that the collar will be larger than 15mm, but as far as I know nobody has started actually designing something yet, so I may be wrong :)

I have revised my headshell design to make it stiffer and more Ekos like (the fillet on the inside edge now runs most of the length of the headshell). I have also taken the design back into eMachineShop, since it seems to be the best value for small production runs. Three questions:

1: Is there enough interest to support a small production run at $35 each + tax/shipping? We need to order 15 to get this price (no anodising this time).
2: Can I enlist some help from people to debug the design before we place an order?
3: Do we have a helpful fish in the US who can drop ship them to us to save on postage/tax (eMachineShop charge $77).
4: Any preference on the size of hole in the collar? I have specced 12.7mm since this is the size of the aluminium tube I found.

STEP file is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1eric1gpui2cgv/headshell.step

Cheers,
Ed
 
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