advertisement


Unipivot tonearms less forgiving of Vinyl quality ?

P

Pani

pfm Member
Couple of times that I have come across unipivot tonearms (once in my own system), I observed that when the vinyl is really good (physical quality and recording quality) the sound was superb, really special in terms of dynamics but when a slightly worn out/old vinyl is played the sound was equally coarse. Typically old vinyls which have been played a lot many times (generally pop/rock recordings) can have more noise but through unipivot tonearms it seemed to be exaggerated, the music sounded relatively abrasive (something like poorly implemented oversampling dacs).

Is it something to do with unipivots ? Or is it a case of tonearm not setup correctly ? I know the TT and cart also plays a major role in this but I did hear those setups with regular gimballed arms and they seemed to be lot more accommodating of such vinyls, playing more music than noise.

Has anyone else noticed this ?
 
An interesting and unusual topic. I for one will be interested in forum users' comments, whether through experience or by technical prognosis, as I only changed from gimbal (SME V) to unipivot (of a sort; 12" N.A. A.A.) last autumn.

My recollection is that there's no improvement in surface/wear noise, but wouldn't go so far as to say it's really worse either. Additionally, the 12" over the 9" has made a noticeable change in presentation etc, rather muddying the waters on recognising any increase/decrease in record noise.
 
Not only noise, I also found that the instruments sounded somewhat rough and thin, kind of unforgiving with unipivots.
 
It's probably nothing to do with 'uni-pivot' and everything to do with poor set-up/matching or poor design. I went from SMEv to Kuzma unipivot earlier this year, there was no difference in surface noise.
 
Sq, Andy, YNWOAN
In that case it seems a bit confusing why a not so well setup tonearm sound astounding on all good LPs and only sound bad on old-average recorded LPs ?
 
Pani, there is absolutely zero technical reason why unipivots and gimbal arms should perform differently in the manner you describe. In addition, my own experience of both types of arm also does not support your own. Frankly, to draw broad stroke conclusions (as you are doing) about the 'sound' of bearing types in this way is meaningless. There are many factors that will impact upon the 'sound' of a tonearm and the the type of bearing used is only one of them. All unipivots do not sound one way and all gimbal arms another.

Pani said:
Sq, Andy, YNWOAN
In that case it seems a bit confusing why a not so well setup tonearm sound astounding on all good LPs and only sound bad on old-average recorded LPs ?
Click to expand...

Not really, different cartridge, arm, deck setup - any of these. To be honest, I've never heard of this problem that you describe before.
 
I would agree with YNWOAN here, I have had Ittok and the ARO on my LP12.

They both play the vinyl equally well but ARO sounds better. ;)
 
I absolutely agree with YNWOAN.

Groove noise is mostly determined by stylus shape and adjustment, but some tonearms seem to accentuate groove noise more than others even when set-up correctly.

Pani, were you using the same cart in both arms?
 
Markus S said:
I absolutely agree with YNWOAN.

Groove noise is mostly determined by stylus shape and adjustment, but some tonearms seem to accentuate groove noise more than others even when set-up correctly.

Pani, were you using the same cart in both arms?
Click to expand...

Yes, in my own setup I used the same cart, zyx rs30
 
Gaius said:
I would agree with YNWOAN here, I have had Ittok and the ARO on my LP12.

They both play the vinyl equally well but ARO sounds better. ;)
Click to expand...

Hehe - that's bcoz you are comparing the ARO to the humble Ittok!! :p

Regards,

Andy
 
Bob McC said:
Maybe unipivots are just more revealing.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that, Bob (even tho I love my UP - a Graham 2.2 :) ).

I have a good mate, who has very good ears, who is firmly convinced that UPs suffer from, perhaps you might like to call it "chatter"/"instability", as the UP bearing needle is not held tightly like a gymbal bearing is ... and this causes a lack of bass?

Regards,

Andy
 
andyr said:
Not sure about that, Bob (even tho I love my UP - a Graham 2.2 :) ).

I have a good mate, who has very good ears, who is firmly convinced that UPs suffer from, perhaps you might like to call it "chatter"/"instability", as the UP bearing needle is not held tightly like a gymbal bearing is ... and this causes a lack of bass?

Regards,

Andy
Click to expand...

Perhaps your friend hasn't heard a good UP tone arm? I get deep clean bass and with low organ notes you tend to feel that through the house fabric and in yer bones and no it doesn't have to be loud.

Ditto kick drum where you get hit in the gut.

Cheers,

DV
 
Markus S said:
I absolutely agree with YNWOAN.

Groove noise is mostly determined by stylus shape and adjustment, but some tonearms seem to accentuate groove noise more than others even when set-up correctly.

Pani, were you using the same cart in both arms?
Click to expand...

I think it is unwise to generalise as groove noise amongst other things also depends on the TT and Tone arm design/build. This will be especially so at the 'budget' end of Hi Fi market where trade offs have to be made.

As you go up towards the so called 'high-end' market then hopefully you get better design and build quality and ultimately the best performance. I don't get any surface noise unless the vinyl is of shitty quality or the surface physically damaged. I still get up to see if a record that I am unfamiliar with has actually finished as there is silence on the run in grooves and this with the wick set up high in order to get realistic dynamics. Unbelievable what can be achieved today although at a price.

Cheers,

DV
 
Groove noise is mostly a product of the stylus tracing the groove, a lightweight and very stiff metal tonearm may go some way to accentuate this vs a heavier, well damped arm-tube, but it hugely depends on how the arm is mounted to the deck and the way in which energy is sunk from the headshell/arm-tube into the rest of the deck.

Anyone doubting the bass on offer from a Uni-pivot should hear Ynwans Aro and Troika combo- it does both offensively deep and tight bass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top