New $35K pivoting tonearm

I read that the bearings are "leaf bearings" or "non-rotating polymer-metal laminate films." Can someone tell me what that is? In a video interview, the designer mentioned the bearings do not have to pivot up and down or left and right and have limited motion just enough for tracking. He said the vertical motion has 22º or 23º of freedom and about 60º of freedom.

YOUTUBE VIDEO

_______

The only kind of bearing that works like that, and does not change the geometry, when flexed, are Flex Pivot bearings. Why they don't just come out and say that is what they are using, I don't know. Probably don't want anyone else to catch on. They seem to be an ideal bearing for a tonearm though. Here is a link to a company that makes Flex Pivot bearings, to give you an idea of how they work. http://www.flexpivots.com/

If they are not Flex Pivot bearings then I don't understand how they could accomplish what they say they do, without some bad consequences. For instance, if you flex a spring, side to side, or up and down, it will bend not pivot. When it bends it will follow a more severe arc than a point that pivots. That would be bad thing.

Thanks, Sarcher30, for the info. I saw a DIY arm uses flex bearings before. Good to know!

_______

The AMG uses a spring for vertical motion. i'm sure that is what makes it sound different. Is the diff better or worse, don't know, have not heard it.

Agree with Syntax that the primary function of this arm's price is to attract attention... which we are providing. ;-)

Disagree on the viability of wood as an armwand material, and windy hyperbole will not blow it out of the room.

Energy transfer is not the only way to stop stray mechanical noise from reaching (or reflecting back to) the cartridge. Energy absorption can also be effective, particularly at higher frequencies. The chaotic, cellular structure of wood, especially dense hardwood, provides millions of boundary transitions that scatter and randomize HF energies, preventing the buildup of resonance patterns. These energies are also attenuated as molecular level vibrations are converted to heat. In this application, wood can be a usefully lossy medium.

The Durand armwands have a lower sound floor than any metal armwand I've heard, especially in the musical harmonics region. I believe their wood armwands contribute to this.

As usual, there's more than one way to skin an audio cat... it's all in the implementation.