Linear tracking turntables, whatever happened?

dorkwad

I will chime in with the problem with straight line tracking air bearing arms is definitely the pump and all parts of the air supply leading to the TT.  I had a Maplenoll Ariadne air bearing TT/arm combo for 12 years that was absolutely the best sounding somewhat reasonably priced combo ever built.   The problem is it needed very clean 40 PSI pressure to make the arm bearing work.  The TT would be fine with about 5 PSI.  They had a splitter near the TT that would channel the air to both TT and arm in separate tubes.  There needed to be a governor on that splitter that would divert say 85%of the air to the arm and only 15% to the TT.  If that had been done, who knows just how great the 'Noll might have been.  However, in addition to an extremely loud pump that needed isolation from the room you listen in, I really couldn't run for 4 hours without having overheating problems and either shutting down permanently or rupturing the diaphragm that allows it to pump air.  It also required a filter to clean the air, an air plenum to take the condensing water out of the line caused by the high powered pump--and all these things need a separate aquarium tube to run to each piece from the other.  The setup did not get out of alignment as long as it was leveled and not moved.  GOOD!  The air supply to the TT/arm could be stopped by any of the parts of the air supply delivery crapping out or any of the hose connections popping free from the pressure.  VERY BAD.  Solved that after the first time it happened that way putting on of the small plastic locking straps snugged good over the tube at each connection.

Ya know...
I consider myself an obsessed audiophile (I go through phases).
But the above sounds, even to me, utterly insane.  I can't imagine buying in to a system with that amount of bother attached to it.   Whenever I think I go to far in pursuing this hobby....other audiophiles remind me: there are levels.  ;-)

I admire your dedication dorkwad.

Prof
I did not want to really comment as the dedication is to be admired for sure.
But if air bearing is the only real way to make a linear tracker work at its best then it absolutely is not for myself either!
However that is not to detract from the concept or to those who do have the dedication and conviction to see it through to the end.
Just not my cup of tea though.

I really don't get it.  Air bearing arms are not hard to set up at all (as long as you have a good design that is fully adjustable) and running them is not complicated, either.  There is virtually no maintenance required after the initial setup with the exception of changing the air filter every few years (or sooner depending on how often you use it).  Most people work much harder switching amps, cables, tubes, etc.

Not much demand for it these days apparently, though I tend to agree linear tacking is a very desirable approach in theory for tracking a record but it has to be realized well in a product that people have good reason to buy. Although turntables have achieved more of a presence of late than for many years prior, it is still a relatively small and very competitive niche market it seems compared to when linear tracking models reached their peak (still a very small niche even then).

I’d even go so far to say that handling a tonearm manually is one of things that people associate with vinyl and contributes to its appeal for many.

Dear Millercarbon, Thank you for "telling it like it is".  I've never heard those gaudy products all together in one system, but I can imagine that I might agree with you, if I were to audition that system.  However, let's do keep in mind that the Clearaudio turntable uses a Souther-type tonearm, described by me in an earlier post.  In fact, I think Clearaudio bought the patent rights from Souther in order to incorporate his ideas into their products.  In my opinion (and I stress that this is ONLY an opinion), the Souther design, where the cartridge is carried on what amounts to only a headshell which rides in a gravity-dependent fashion on a rail strung across the LP surface, has many issues.  Not the least of which is that any irregularity in the LP surface has a large effect upon VTA, due to the very short distance between the stylus and the headshell pivot point.  My point is that I would not throw the SL tracking baby out with the Clearaudio bath water.  SL tracking done well does have merit.  I think air bearing is the way to go, but like many others who joined this thread, I chose not to bother with the air pumps, filters, and noise that come with air bearing tonearms.  I do recognize that by choosing to use only pivoted tonearms, I am accepting one set of problems for another.