Why Linear Tracking never took off?


Popular in the mid-80s...Linear tracking tables have vanished from the scene...what was the rational behind their creation?...Are there any good used tables to consider...or is this design long gone?....thanks...the simplicity of operation intrigues me...
128x128phasecorrect
There was a big article on linear tonearms in this month's HIFI+ magazine (Issue 28). Kind of interesting reading.

Julie
Julie, yeah and there was lots of misinformation! First of all, the first air-bearing tonearm was apparently designed by Infinity, the makers as well of the Black Widow tonearm, as well as speakers. From there, the design went on to Old Coloney, and eventually morphed into the Maplenoll air-bearing 'tables which Bruce Thigpen was involved in before he went on his own and designed the ET tonearms. As I wrote above, problems with the arm bottoming out at the end of a side can easily be taken care of by re-orienting the manifold inside the arm-block on Maplenolls and adjusting the air-ports via the hex-screws, which thereafter never have this problem. And in practice, MCs work very well in this rig, and I have used Grados and Deccas on it as well. So reports of difficulties concerning high lateral mass are simply not audible in practice, so this difficulty is exaggerated in the article and "out there" in general. As always, imporper set-up/understanding is to blame. Of course, MCs with low compliance do work best, but since the scene is currently dominated by such cartridges, then this is not a problem.
Wazzup Everybody!

I had a Revox 791 AND a Maplenoll. The Revox was decent anf the Maplenoll was a killa! But I got tired of the fuss and the pumps and what-have-you so I've been happy for the last 15 years with my LP12.
If a Linear Tracking Tonearm like the ET2 are set up correctly with table/stand being level there are very few ajustments after the initial setup, I have had my ET2 set up for over a year and have only had to adjust it once just last week. Most tables need an adjusting every 6 months just to keep it right (if you use your table alot). I had an Linn LP12 that their was always something to tweak on it and I messed with this more than my current setup that's why I switched to the Teres 255/ET2/Shelter 901 and haven't looked back since. I should have bought the ET2 a long time ago, now I enjoy the music the way it was supposed be with NO inner groove distortion like regular tonearms have.

Steve.
How did i miss this thread???

I've got a Sota Star Sapphire vacuum platter with an ET II air bearing linear tracking arm on it.

I've got another Sota Star Sapphire vacuum platter with a Clearaudio TQ-I linear tracking arm on it.

I've got a Maplenoll Athena with an air bearing linear tracking arm on the way. It should be here sometime late next week.

I've got an HK / Rabco ST-7 linear tracker.

I've got an HK / Rabco ST-4 linear tracker.

I've got a Revox B-790 linear tracker.

I've got a Pioneer PL-800 linear tracker.

My guess is that the reason that Linear tracker's never took off is because very few people have ever seen or heard one. That's because i bought them all : ) Sean
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