Straight tone arm vs. curved/s-shaped?

I searched the forums and couldn't find anything regarding tracking and tone arm design. Is one tone arm better than the other with tracking regarding a straight design versus a curved design?

 

Short answer: It depends, but not really.

 

I don't think there is any correlation to sound quality or tracking. Lots of good straight and curved tonearms, ie Moerch, Thomas Schick, EMT etc

 

Not really, but it depends. :>)


I read somewhere that the 'S' shaped arm is suppose to do something better than the straight arm, something to do with anti-skate if I remember correctly.

In any event, I use an 'S' shaped arm and it works just fine. Sounds good too. I have the anti-skate connected up now and it sounds good. For 5 years I didn't even use the anti-skate. It sounded good. The same really!!?? The only reason I connected it is because I have a new purchased NOS 1980 Ortofon cart and it was just time to fabricate the little wire and connect it. I was just worried about needle/cart damage.

 

It really doesn't make a difference, but:

for a given effective length (stylus to pivot) a s-shaped arm will be longer
S-shaped arms tend to be more compact on tables (the record 'sits' in the curve of the S, so less room is needed for the arm)

The geometry of the set-up is independent of arm shape.

 

No easy answer, I guess.

 

Hope someone really knows why they designed the "S" shaped tonearm.

I'll dig into it and see what I can come up with. I have 'some stuff' written down 'somewhere', just have to find it. There was a specific reason why 'they' designed the 'S' shaped tonearms.

Hope someone here knows specifically about this. Very Interesting topic and thread!

 

There is the DJ straight tone arm that is designed for scratching.

http://www.kabusa.com/str8_doc.htm

This does explain the reason why the S-shaped tonearm was designed as well.

 

BTW, the information from KABUSA was taken from the Radiotron Designer's Handbook: http://www.tubebooks.org/Books/intro_RDH4.pdf

 

To save space. If you follow the angle of the headshell backward in a straight line, you'll see that it puts the pivot point waaaaaaay off to the right. But bent, the pivot can be nearer the platter. It's a functional and useful design. However, it does mean that the "pull" of the stylus in the groove is now being applied at an angle to the pivot point, instead of directly. This creates torque on the pivot, and that torque is the reason for anti-skate. And that's the reason "DJ" applications use a straight tone arm. Because no torque is being created, the record will be less prone to skipping.

 

I'll just point out that the classic scratching style was developed long before someone put a straight arm on a turntable (stanton). That's just plain cheating.

 

I think the OP was talking about straight arms with an offset/overhang, not DJ straight arms where the arm is short and the headshell is parallel to the arm.

There seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread.

 

Yes, I kinda remember it now that it goes something like that! Let me see what I can find out about it, which probably won't be much, I think it is in a Sansui advertisement for thier 'S' shaped tonearms on the SR-929 or SR-838...same thing.

Life is confusion. LOL But we can get it all straightened out here! :>)

 

The mass in a S-shaped arm is balanced between both sides of the pivot-stylus line. In a straight arm, the mass lies totally at the right side of that line.

I'd guess that the S-shape has an advantage when the record is warped, and perhaps with Telarc-1812 modulations.

In any case, conceptually, the S-shape is more sound.

 

I don't think any of the above is of importance. As you no doubt know, the S-shape is just so the headshell, where the cartridge is parallel to the sides of the headshell, fits. If there is no headshell, there is no need for a S-shape.

 

If I get it right, that would be J-shaped.

There is also the straight arm, where the angle is given by the headshell.

 

Those too. If there is no lateral balance provision, the S has a mild advantage over the J.

 

i love the look of straight arms. that is one of the reasons,
among many others, why this is my dream table;


PIONEER PL-90 (1986/199?)

 

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=vinyl&m=650079

 

That is a straight arm with an offset which is a good deal. There is also the DJ straight arm that is not offset.

 

Isn't there an argument that low mass tonearms made of materials other than
steel have less of a sonic footprint imposed on your lp playback?

Skinny, straight carbon or graphite tonearms are all over today's
Rega, Music Hall and ProJect type 'tables.

 

I don't know why some designers thought it was important, but, the s-curve distributes mass evenly between a line drawn between the pivot and the stylus. This was advertised as "static balance." I suppose this helped to load the arm bearings evenly.

The extra mass of the S-curve is a big negative, even if the arm is meant to be of higher mass (the higher mass could otherwise be deployed making the arm tube thicker, and hence, more rigid).

 

I thought I had more information on the S shaped tonearm but if I do I can't find it right now.

Below is excerpts from Sansui describing their S shaped tonearm:

The ‘S’-shaped tonearm is ideal for ‘maintaining tracking accuracy‘ and gives better tractability across the record, less arcing, and it’s great when using a micro groove stylus. With every other kind of elliptical stylus, the more the arc when the tone-arm goes across the record the faster it wears out with these stylus and the stylus itself wears out faster.

 

OK. Marketing speak. If it was a straight tonearm they would have said the same thing.

 

That 'Sansui marketing' was for their SR-838 TT. That's the TT I have. It's quite honstly a very fine TT. Quality is second to none, operates like a swiss watch, it weights a ton and is very large in size, the platter is something else, the direct drive TT is as quiet as quiet can be, it never skips a beat...and sounds wonderful. The stock headshell is really good. The other TOTL Sansui was the SR-929, also with a 'S' tonearm and built 1-2 years before the 838, and is equally desireable. Both are perfect.

I know each company has their own 'marketing' to push their product. But this Sansui is clearly a winner by all standards. Sansui also did a lot of stuff to the rest of the tonearm too...it works perfect.

All 'I know' is I've had a new Dual 1219 straight tonearm TT and this used Sansui SR-838 'S' shaped tonearm TT. I had a new 1979 'Shure V15 Type II' cart in the Dual. I have an NOS 1980 Ortofon 'M20FL Super' cart in the 838. There is no comparison between the two. Sansui's 'S' shaped tonearm TT is clearly the winner in quality and sound reproduction, and the actual TT construction by a long shot. But that's just from my perspective. I'll take the Sansui! But the Dual was a nice TT.

I like Sansui's 'S' Shaped tonearm. It just works beautifully. But probably really doesn't much matter straight or S shaped. I really don't know.

'If it sounds wonderful and functions great...ya have a winner TT, straight or S arm, use it!' :>)