MT10 owner question

[william13]

This is a very specific question for MT10 owners regarding tonearm movement. The other day while putting on my new cartridge I noticed that the tone arm has play along its long axis. So if you were to hold the tonearm pivot where it says "McIntosh" and gently applied pressure, it would rock from side to side. If I hold the counterweight in my hand like a door knob I can turn it 1/8th inch back and forth. I contacted another member on AA who owns an MT10 who stated that their MT10 pivot did not rock. My dealer spoke to the factory who told him that there is supposed to be "some play" in the arm. So the question I am putting out there is this. How much play is there suppossed to be in the arm and has anyone tried to reduce the play or increase the play by tightening the pivot with a screw that lies between the back of the pivot and the counter-weight. Also why is this play built into the arm? What purpose does it serve? Will there be any harm if I reduce the play?

[william13]

I was just told uni-pivot arms wobble a lot. I will try to post this to youtube from I phone when I figure out how.

[mbovaird]

I was just told uni-pivot arms wobble a lot. I will try to post this to youtube from I phone when I figure out how.

What I'm trying to figure out is whether the arm on the Mc TT is in fact unipivot. We need the Mc faithful to chime in with their expertise. In the meantime, I'll keep reading and researching.

[william13]

Mike if you read this
StereoTimes -- (http://www.stereotimes.com/turn103102.shtml)

it talks about wobbling being natural for uni-pivots:

Its hard to figure out if the mT10 is uni-pivot one article said it is uni-pivot and or gimbaled.

[MyPal]

I do not believe this is normal! The tonearm is a gimballed sapphire design.

My arm does not experience any lateral arm pivot action or sloppiness whatsoever. There are 3 small screws on the rear of the tonearm on each of the assemblies. These are accessible once the tonearm counterweight is removed. The top inner screw when tightened stops lateral pivot action. I believe this to be an undocumented adjustment to allow for minor lateral fixing of the tonearm. This, in conjunction with proper headshell alignment could assist with azimuth issues that may not otherwise be resolved with cartridge alignment alone.

Do any other MT10 owners have lateral tonearm pivot action when grasping the tonearm counterweight & turning it like a door knob? Like I said above, I don't believe this to be normal but I could of course be wrong....

[william13]

When I woke up this morning I did not realize the question I would go to bed with was "Do gimballed pivots wobble?"

By the way, just a hair turn of that screw in back stops the wobbling but I really want to make sure that yours is not too tight as oppossed to mine being too lose. Thought there were more MT10 owners!!

[william13]

Hey MyPal: You and I may represent the only two MT10 opinions on earth. I will be the western hemisphere and you the eastern. On a serious note my vendor is calling the manufacturer of the arm to see what its action should be,


Addendum: The pivot should not wobble. This is official. Another MT10 was examined by AC fresh out of the box and only minimal movement noted. So Mypal: Mine was loose as you so indicated.