Back in 1971 I use to own but not any more a Rabco SL-8E tonearm. The Rabco was considered to be a great tonearm. Also Dean Slindee was modding the Rabco. The Rabco was always breaking down and went defunct. The Radial Audio expensive is a better version of the Rabco, See video at 4:17.
gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, A great concept that was not paired with great engineering and quality control. The magnetic lev ones now popping up seem to have the same issues. As a long time user of turntables and having 6 at the last count I have done a bit of research into what works and how well it works. IMO there is much ado about the last little bit of tracking error in tone arms. I sense a really sharp law of declining value vs cost. Most decent arms now (not the mega buck ones) can do around 2 degrees max of tracking error. It sounds awful until you look at the whole system. That amount of error is about the same as the LPs being played. Some are much worse. There is also error in the mounting of the stylus in the cartridge which can sometimes be mitigated by use of precision test LPs and suitable oscilloscopes. Some folks claim they can do it by ear...I sure can't get it as close as the test gear. Then it falls back on the quality of the LP manufacturing process where consistency is not the rule. A nice kettle of fish for sure.
That was a cool video. Sometimes when a product is mistakenly designed to fail, or even if you accidentally break something during normal use, it's possible to rig it back together. I've done that more than one. It might not be perfect, but it saves money in the long run.
Back when I played cassette tapes, I would have to that. Kind of. The tape kept getting stuck in the heads and I would have to take the time to get it undone, then roll the tape back in to the cassette.
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