Beats me, Vinny. But the Audiomods is sure an interesting design, which appeals to me. Often times there is no clear "winner" amongst a group of arms (or anythings), but rather trade-offs. If I had or was thinking of going in the Rega direction, I would put the Audiomods high on my "check it out" list. Jeff addresses some design issues Roy Gandy doesn't---read all the design info on the website, a couple of times. Unusual, unique designs appeal to me, and I find the Audiomods design-to-price ratio very high. It's owners rave about it, but I finally decided not to get one because of the unique demands my cartridge of choice (Decca/London) places on an arm. It may have worked okay, but probably not optimally.
A lot of people are very happy with their Jelco arm, but I disapprove of S-shaped arms (unipivots, too). Linn has kind of lost their leadership edge, haven't they? But their older ones are still high quality products, as are Origin Live. These are all really good arms, you just have to see something in one of them that speaks to you more than the others. People like one or the other for their own personal reasons, which may have nothing to do with your needs. Find an analog dealer you want to develop a long-term relationship with (like Brian Berdan at Audio Elements in Pasadena, CA), and tell him what you're looking for, if you know. If you don't, start with your cartridge, and get an arm appropriate for it. The cartridge and the arm are a system, a team, just like the amp and the speaker, and the speaker and the room. Brian's an expert in analog, with customers all over the country. He carries great lines, and knows how to maximize their potential.
