A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Nandric,

If you go down the route of Halcro (which I am more or less planning to do) with the arm tower design, you can offset your mounting hole to be nearer to any desired edge. This removes all concerns about tonearm length. This will also apply for arms with collars. Remember that I have experimented very successfully with a Morch DP6 and an Audio Craft AC3300 - both of which have collars and are 9" or less in length.

Apart from the unspecified and potential costs in needing professional help in drilling the holes, there really appears to be no limits to the arm tower approach and its applications.

Dear Dgob, I really hope that anyone will be able to 'go
down the route of Halcro' but I already mentioned Picasso in this context. To accomodate,say, a brass cylinder for
all the purposes (aka 'universal arm pod') the crafstman
need to cut a supstantial part from the cylinder and consequently reduce the weight. Then one will also need the plates ,etc. which add to the unknown costs. One needs some good idea about the cost in advance I should think.
What is possible and what is advisable may contradict each
other. I myself somehow fancy this sturdy brass cylinder and would never polish the thing.
Regards,

To paraphrase the bandit in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", you don' need no stinkin' viscoelastic support.

(He said, "Badg-es? We don' need no stinkin' badg-es.")

This is only my opinion, of course.

At least try it both ways, turntable and armpod both mounted on the same inert STABLE shelf with no viscoelastic mounts vs with viscoelastic mounts.

I have asked some folks who have gone down this path using various metals in an isolated arm pod to post their comments here. I hope they will be able to provide their input.

To me if I had a tonearm with collar - just preliminary thoughts - but anyway to be DIY - You would need to drill collar diameter holes through both the brass cylinder and the top plate and set the spikes high enough to allow the wires to clear. Drilling the holes is easy for a machine shop. The top plate (aluminum?) just needs to be thick enough to allow the tonearm collar to grip and be tightened - then it can be set down on top of the brass cylinder and secured. This could be done by the DIY. Anything more would obviously require a machine shop.

Dear Nandric - I am growing fond of the brass cylinder "as is" and based on what I am hearing am reluctant now to have it taken apart and changed at all.

Cheers

Nandric,

If you buy some aluminium plate (eBay often has various thickness of these at very reasonable prices!) you can make a variety of interchangeable arm plates for the top of your tower(s). The carftsman is therefore only challenged with drilling a hole down the length of the cylinder (55mm in Halcro's and my intended case) and a 30-40mm hole running lower across the cylinder and into the vertical 55mm hole (for the phono cable to run through). That's two holes in total and the weight will be the same as Halcro's.

I already have M6 and M8 taps, drills and footers so no cost there. If not already in possession then, anyone can find these (as I think Chris has suggested) for a very reasonable price from their local hardware store. Three holes tapped for the base spikes; three holes tapped for the attaching armplate. I don't think this is too large a challenge for most on this site. Worth considering I think.