Linear Tracking Turntables - Best??


Entertaining the idea of acquiring a linear tracking turntable. Which was condidered the most sota. Ease of set up and maintenace is a prerequsite. Most I have talked with,say linear only way to go. OK AUDIOGON MEMBERS ITS YOUR TURN. Convince me one way or the other
ferrari
Have to put in a word for the Eminent Technology arm which not only maintains it's position today with the finest but is seriously unfussy. The few shortcomings, less bass than others and the poor wiring on the original are solved by the five gallon gas can and the litz (?) wire upgrade of the series II. Paired with the VPI HW-19 IV which has the TNT bearing it's 95% of the Goldmund and Basis for 1/10 the price.
Well, I had a Liniar Tracking arm, they are ok, but...
They can be hard to maintain, alot of tweaking and readjustment. Pivot arms do have alot of advantages as well.
Tim, OK, I don't know of any arm, which does not deed a lot of tweaking and readjustment. The better and the more demanding your hearing is, the more you are compelled to tweak. For the rest, my personal experience mirrors that of djnorth's. I've experimented for over 12 years until I settled for a heavily modified Goldmund and an equally modified Souther aka Clear Audio arm. Since then somewhat less tweaking and aural happyness has set in. Regards,
Go pivot arm for ease and maintenance. There's a trade off between the music virtues and good looks of linear tracking setups and pivot arms. I concur with Slugo's points from personal experience (except the Rockport of course). I had a Goldmund Studio with a 3F arm for many years. It produced beautiful music and it was fairly easy to maintain if you kept the VTA constant. Changing the VTA meant tweaking other things to get it sound just right. Pivot arms such as Graham 2.2's or Triplainer's allow for very easy tiny adjustments for each record thus producing a better chance of getting the music right for more records more often with less fuss. My current set up is Basis 2500/Graham 2.0 and Koetsu Onyx Platinum - just so you know my bias. Still, I wish I had kept that Goldmund - it was outstanding. I know my perfectly maintained Goldmund was a steal for the buyer. You might find one like that for you.