ClaraBannister
pfm Member
Here's something I'd just like to run by the forum. I have more than one turntable. Asking someone to manage with just one turntable is as illogical as requiring that they only have one bicycle. I noticed that a couple of my turntables have straight tonearms, while another couple have S-shaped ones. Reading the owner's manual for one of the latter, it goes into great detail about how the arm is shaped in such a way as to give optimal tracking and minimise tracking error. It occurs to me that this is a load of nonsense. Assuming the tonearm is rigid, then surely, no matter what shape it is, the stylus and the pivot will always be in exactly the same position relative to one another. The only factor which could remotely be important in tracking is the angle between the arm and an imaginary line drawn along the centre of the long axis of the cartridge, taking in the point of the stylus. An S-shaped tonearm may look pretty, but it might as well be helical for all the difference it makes. This is my theory anyway. Am I correct?