best value current production tonearm

Super easy set up on the TransFI. I helped someone set one up on a refurbed Technics SP10 MKII with one of those crazy nice wooden plinths.

It took less than an hour. Much less time then mounting a new cartridge on a "normal" tonearm.

I love VPI Classic, but I've seriously considered buying the TransFi Savlation, it's just so freaking simple, and that arm is fantastic.

The Trans-fi arm looks intriguing if you are a masochistic tinkerer who can't help tinkering all the time - like me. My first 'Big Boy' turntable was a vacuum-platter SOTA with an ET2 arm. It drove me nuts for several years until I traded the SOTA in on a new TNT that I bought with a rock-solid TNT stand. The TNT/ET2 combo was made in Heaven for many years. I got so I could level the arm by turning the knobs over the TNT feet and never needed a level.

I have nice VPI table now with a very nice arm - the JMW 10.5i. It goes for months without needing any adjustment - except for on-the-fly VTA, but I really miss the stunning improvements an air bearing arm brings to the game and would like to look into the feasibility of mating it to my existing SSM, particularly in the Z axis (height re. the platter top). Their web-site is a fright. I can't find any American distributors. I would also like to know the air pressure specs so that I can put something together in the good ol' USA instead of paying a fortune to ship theirs.

Any help finding out more about this arm would be appreciated.

I haven't used one myself, but, there has been some good press about the 12" Thomas Schick tonearm. I believe it accomodates the detachable SPU headshell like your Ortofon arm.

By the way, your Ortofon arm is a terrific arm.

Mcbuddah,

The custom variable in a Trans-Fi order is the thickness of the delrin or brass pedestal that supports the aluminum arm base. The bottom of the arm base should be about 14mm below the surface of the platter or record mat. Thus the pedestal height should be specified as the distance from your TT armboard to the platter or mat surface minus about 14mm. This will ensure that for a cartridge of typical height, level VTA is obtained toward the middle of arm's range of VTA adjustment. Vic at Trans-Fi usually equips his standard delrin pedestal with a long bolt straight down the center of the pedestal which bolts to the tonearm base at the top and clamps to the underside of the armboard at the bottom. I had him make(and later fashioned for myself in brass) a two-stud version with a separate eccentric stud on top that swings in an arc to allow fine adjustment of the distance between the air manifold and the record spindle.

I use a Rena 400 aquarium pump with a 1 gallon plastic gas can in line to smooth pulsing. There are photos on his web site showing the DIY pump set-up.

Mcbuddah, nothing masochistic about the Terminator arm at all. I thought it straightforward and simple to manipulate.

While I am handier than most, I'm not a tinkerer or engineer, so it wasn't that difficult. My friend with one has not touched it in the 2 years since we initially installed it, and it still sounds fantastic.