Why Linear Tracking never took off?

I own both a restored Yamaha PX-2 and a Sony PSX-800 Linear biotracer. They outperm anything else I've ever heard.

John Kercheval

I also have the Sony PSX-800 with linear tracking biotracer arm, and find that it performs flawlessly. For example, it will play records so badly warped that an ordinary arm gets tossed completely out of the groove.

The reason that I bought it was because I attended a seminar at a High End audio shop on the subject of how to set up a conventional pivoting arm. I never realized how many angles and tracking forces were involved, and how many of these errors can only be approximately corrected because things change as the arm tracks the record from outside towards the spindle.

I think that most linear tracking arms failed because they relied on virtually frictionless bearings so that the arm would move with a very tiny sideways force from the stylus.
The Sony Biotracer arm uses servo motors to move the arm (side to side and up and down) so as to keep all those troublesome angles down to about 1/10 degree. Stylus downforce is also applied electronically, a nice feature which lets you adjust the force while a record is playing so that the sonic effect can be heard.

Hello Eldartford,

I own a PSX800 too. I bought it some weeks ago. It's like new but since today pushinging the starting button the arm doesn't move to the outer groove and won't lower the arm on the vinyl. If I give the arm a little help by pushing it, there's no problem. Every works fine then. I wonder if lubricating the rod will help. Do you have any experience with that?

Henkaudio...The servo system that moves the arm pivot assembly quickly along the track, lowers the arm at the outer groove and picks it up when the record is finished is separate from the system that controls movement during play. I don't think that cleaning or lubricating the arm track will help, especially since you say that the arm plays OK once it gets going. If you try cleaning the track be careful not to use anything that would leave a sticky residue. I think that your unit may need some adjustment to the fast arm movement servo. Sony service centers (one of two in the USA is near Boston) claim to be able to work on the PSX800...I wouldn't let just anyone try. I have a copy of the service manual and let me tell you this is one complex piece of electromechanical hardware, and software. Yes the thing has several microprocessors in it.

This player is a technical masterpiece (I think they must have sold it at a loss) and I would ship mine back to Japan if necessary to get it fixed. In these days of the global marketplace, shipping to Japan wouldn't be much different from shipping across the USA.

I have a ET-2 air bearing linear tracking arm I purchased a long time ago. I still have not heard anything I like better.