Tri-Planar Vll "SE Upgrade"

 I have heard medium mass arms mistrack many records and then here the same records on a mission mechanic arm and they track perfectly.

@tzh21y  The issue here is something called 'effective mass' which is the combination of the mass of the arm and cartridge, and how that interacts with the mechanical resonance, which occurs when the effective mass interacts with the compliance of the cartridge.

Regardless of the quality of the arm and cartridge, if the mechanical resonance does not fall within the window of about 7-12Hz, the arm and cartridge combination will mistrack and you may experience breakup even with moderate modulation in the LP grooves.

IOW, 'medium mass arms' has nothing to do with it. What your post suggests is that the medium mass arms you heard were not set up properly.

The Triplanar allows some adjustment of the effective mass, and so it can accommodate a fairly wide range of cartridge compliance.

In the last 3 years, no one have contact me regarding problem similar to Mr. Mandric.  I do not believe Mr. Mandric have a Tri-Planar tonearm.  Mr. Nandric could provide serial number and date of production of his Tri-Planar tonearm so we could settle this mater.
Thank you

Geez, this whole thread is hijacked by nandric. Totally rude. Go start your own thread so people can discus to the OP’s question.

so several people I deeply respect for real contributions to audio and MUSIC have weighed in w real experience and ownership of Tri arms...a great reason to buy one !!!!!!

@atmasphere the two discs you cut, are those available? IF I never hear the cannons again it will be toooooooooo soon....

Dear @tzh21y @pbnaudio friends: """ if the mechanical resonance does not fall within the window of about 7-12Hz, the arm and cartridge combination will mistrack and you may experience breakup even with moderate modulation in the LP grooves. """

that’s untrue for say the least. Resonance frequency between cartridge y tonearm is like any other parameter: something to take in count but cartridge/arm combination out of 8hz-12hz or even 7hz normally has no problems of mistrcking and certainly with " moderate modulation " never happens.

Tracking abilities depends more on the self cartridge abilities than the tonearm in which is mounted.

@lewm can corroborates that easy because he runs his Acutex very high compliance cartridge mounted in a very high effective mass non-damped tonearm design ( vintage ) with out tracking problems. This combination makes that the resonance frequency stays at 4hz-5hz ! !

Using a Technics Epa 250 ( vintage ) tonearm the magazyne Audio reviewer made a full Ortofon MC-2000 LOMC cartridge that’s a high compliance cartridge. If I remember the compliance was over 30 cu and the resonance frequency between the cartridge/tonearm lower than 5hz ! ! and even that the cartridge plays in clean ways the full cannon shots of the Telarc 1812 and many other " torture " Lp recordings on everykind of kind of music.
The reviewer tooks real time measurement through the different analizers and tools under his control. So information did not came from test records or the like but: live real time ! !

Btw, the cannon shots are very demanding but the Carrillon grooves too. It’s a great recording and is a digital recording made it in the years where almost no one understand very clear about digital and its meaning. Telarc is a recording lesson for every one, not only the 1812 but several other Telar recordings are just fasinating and a must to own.

Obviously that as everything in analog the tonearm is important but in reality the main task regarding tracking belongs to the cartridge self tracking abilities.

Btw, when any one of us read any tonearm specs saying: tonearm tracking: 80 or 90?, never in the other way many of us already read the tracking spec in cartridge specs.

""" the Triplanar U12, latest model (1-2017). It tracks 100 u with no issues, """

well, a Rega tonearm or a Jelco one can do it too because that does not depends mainly on the tonearm but in the CARTRIDGE.

In my own system and through my analog audio life I tested hundreds of cartridge/tonearm combinations ( with over 130+ cartridges and more than 30 different tonearms. ) and only one time one combination skip LP grooves.

Mistraking can occur for different reasons: dirty stylus tip in the cartridge, unclean LP grooves, deffects in the LP pressings, a tonearm out of specs, a cartridge out of specs, to pronounced waves in the LP, a bad cartridge/tonearm set up, a new non broke-in cartridge where the cartridge suspension is not yet settle down, etc, etc.

The cartridge is the king the tonearm only a " slave " of it, an important " slave ".


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.