I've announced the 'Farpoint' revision to the Blackbird. There's a press realease on the web site. If anybody has any questions feel free to ask.
It's called Farpoint because the new pillar scheme positions the pivot point about a centimetre further from the spindle than the previous scheme, which placed the pivot at the centre of the arm board hole. There are many arms which abandon the convention that the pivot be at the centre of the arm board hole, and I decided that the changes in spindle-to-pivot length when the arm pillar is rotated are easily compensated by cartridge movement or pivot extension. Advantages to the new scheme are that the pillar is stiffer and more universal across different mounting schemes, making the Linn, Rega, SME, Jelco, VPI and Brinkmann pillars the same part. Unfortunately it still looks like a future ARO mount will need a custom pillar.
Other advantages are that room was made for a transport bolt which immobilises the suspension of the arm. This means that the arm and pillar are shipped as one structure, making installation less daunting. You just drop the arm/pillar into the collar/base, get VTA about right, tighten the pillar lock bolt and then remove the transport bolt and spacer to enable the arm suspension.
The adjustment of suspension hoist length is now fixed to the arm itself, not the pillar. This means that azimuth adjustment does not involve a potential change in hoist length. Setting hoist length and setting azimuth are now independent. The left and right hoists are now one continuous line which is knotted around a knob, significantly reducing the length of hoist in the suspension. Since all materials are elastic to some extent, even the unforgiving hoist braid, it seemed to me to be good practice to minimise it, even though I don't know whether any reduction of elasticity in the hoist suspension is audible.
Since the hoists are suspended from a knob, it is now possible to screw the hoist knob further into the pillar, giving easier and more accurate control of the relative extensions of the suspension point and the pivot point. It's now much easier to adjust the pivot backwards or forwards to make small changes to spindle-to-pivot distance.
The knob and pivot are now M5 instead of M4, which I could do because the pillar is broader.
Aluminium sleeve has been added at the arm-tube thrust box junction and at the headshell end. They increase stiffness and make machining of the carbon fibre arm more reliable meaning that fewer arms end up in the bin!
None of these alterations change the fundamental design of the Blackbird and its bearing. I do not know if I could distinguish a Blackbird and a Blackbird Farpoint from each other by ear.
Since the spindle-to-pivot distance is extended by a centimetre, Farpoint arms have about a centimetre of extra effective length. The Linn compatible Blackbird Farpoint has an effective length of about 239mm, not 229mm. The Rega version has an effective length of about 247mm instead of 237-239. Twelve inch Farpoint Blackbirds have an effective length of about 315mm. If you're a believer in the theory that longer arms are better, that extra centimetre on the same deck is an advantage.
The new thrust box has a series of arm junction holes 5.5mm apart, so it is possible to convert a Rega-length Blackbird Farpoint for use on a Linn-geometry deck simply by unbolting the thrustbox and shifting it up the arm by 11mm. There may be a bit of futzing with the wiring when doing this, and a centimetre or so of arm may protrude beyond the thurst box at the back until you cut it off, but it does mean that if you buy a Rega-length arm you can use it on a Pro-ject, Linn, or other 211mm geometry in the future. It also gives you some leeway for adapting the longer arms to unusual cartridges or decks if you discover the need.
This does mean that Farpoint arms are not compatible with the original Blackbird bases and vice versa, since the lengths will be wrong.
As I said - fire away if you have any questions.
Maybe next weeks show 
