Featured - 12" Double Barrel tonearm.
Posted on by Ben Lamb -
Featured is the 12" Double Barrel tonearm. This tonearm is 298mm from centre of the pivot to the middle of its cartridge adjustment range giving 308mm from pivot centre to the stylus needle. It uses a 25.6mm diameter mounting pillar which is 47mm in length giving aprox. 35mm of VTA adjustment. The minimum height puts the stylus 27mm above the mounting point of the arm.
The arm features a carbon fibre weave wand or tube and it is a fixed headshell design using a slotted carbon cartridge mount. The cartridge mount, where it connects to the wand is reinforced with carbon fibre rovings, infused and encased with epoxy resin. This creates a very rigid structure with excellent resonant properties. Bearings are the highest specification I could find being japanese and ABEC 9 rated. The arm uses a stub axle with two ball races for yaw movement and I find this enables more accurate bearing alignment. The arm pillar uses a further two ball races supporting a honed shaft which is linked to a large pulley which operates the antiscate mechanism. The mechanism is completely linear throughout its range of movement unlike many sprung designs.
The arm features a silicon damped cueing mechanism and a low centre of gravity couterweight with adjustable auxilary weight that can be removed for low mass cartridges and installed for heavier moving coils. Different counterweights can be supplied in order to give different ranges of adjustment for different cartridges. Clear polycarbonate Lexan material is used for the antiscate mechanism and arm chassis frame. Aluminium alloy is used for bearing housings and structural arm components.