[zettelsm]

I recently converted my trusty old 12” JMW 12.5 unipivot to a new Fatboy gimbaled arm. Couldn’t be happier — my Dynavector XV1-S sounds better than I’ve ever heard it in all the years I’ve had it.

Not that the 12.5 was bad by any means, but the Fatboy — wow!

Now, some of this might be due to hitting the analog equivalent of the lottery with my alignment. In a hurry to get the arm in play I basically set up the cartridge by eye and ear, using the VPI 12” arm jig, double-checked cantilever angle with a WallyTractor, and set the arm tube to level with an inexpensive Hudson lucite block with parallel horizontal lines from Amazon, after first making sure the VTF was within the recommended range with an inexpensive but accurate digital scale.

When I went back and checked SRA with a USB scope and azimuth with an oscilloscope and test record, lo and behold, they were both spot on — 92 degrees SRA and crosstalk difference right at 0.5 dB. I should have bought a Powerball ticket when I did that set up!

I thought long and hard about giving up the easy interchangeability of the unipivot for the increased stability of the gimbal, but being honest I haven’t swapped to my mono Helikon more than a half dozen times in the last couple of years. If I really, really feel the need in the future to be able to swap quickly between cartridges, well, I can always fabricate another armboard and add another arm to my DIY Teres ‘table. My phono stage will accommodate three more arms. . .

Steve Z