So much for fantasy. Now for reality. The truth is I've had reservations about the ARO with respect to price, performance (at the frequency extremes) and handling for quite some time. I know it's a damn fine arm but preconceptions are hard to get rid off. Until they are completely smashed by experience, that is.

I took the plunge yesterday and finally (after 10 years of sterling service) replaced my trusty Ittok with an ARO. Here is a summary of my experience to date.

Fallacy #1: The money might be steep but the benefits are absolutely astronomical. A key advantage that the ARO has over the Ittok is its ability to present musical subtley and drama all at once. I heard micro nuaunces in familiar but musically complex records for the first time. The emotion flowed so much more naturally without any artifice whatsoever. I'm still in disbelief over the amount of punch rock albums had as I am over the delicacy of lightly struck cymbals. The transient response has to be heard to be believed.

Fallacy #2: The ARO played bass deeper, tighter and faster than the Ittok. No contest. If the Ittok had an advantage over the ARO at the other end, I'm more than happy with the total absence of treble ringing and overshoot. The Ittok is harsh in comparison. Overall the cohesion of the frequency spectrum is seamless and leaves nothing to be desired.

Fallacy #3: I'm still coming to grips with the 3rd dimension of movement. In time, I'm sure my right hand will recognise and sympathetically self-cancel any tendency to excite the arm for faultless cueing.

In the context of my system, the ARO gives the best bang for my dollar and I only wished I did it sooner. Roll on Prefix!

James

Resistance is Futile

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

festive hooch

If you wish to cue into the centre of a record, you can do it, but you have to extend across. Just keeping your finger in touch with the plinth steadies your hand remarkably well.

Try it...it works!

Regards,
Frank.

quote:

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May I take it that the cartridge used was as in your profile?

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Yes, I'm using a Lyra Lydian Beta in the ARO. It is a supremely musical and punchy little number for the money. I'd prefer an Arkiv2 or similar, but that is in an altogether different league. Perhaps after Santa brings me 52/NBLs .

Frank,

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Just keeping your finger in touch with the plinth steadies your hand remarkably well.

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Thanks for your lucid suggestions. I think I'm reasonably adept at cueing on and in fact do exactly as you suggest as second nature. The worrying part is cueing off at the end of side. I've since learnt to position my middle finger just under the finger lift, and kinda scoop it up. In this way, the stylus doesn't get a chance to deflect on the rotational axis and the whole exercise can be done without too much drama or anxiety. Phew.

Merry Christmas to you both.

James

Resistance is Futile

The ittok is not manufactured now and the question is how are the arms a person can buy now as new compare to the ARO ?

Arie

Whilst the Ittok is no longer available new, there is a huge number of current LP12s that are thus equipped and their owners, as I have been, can be very satisfied with it as it was the primo Linn arm from the 80s. Since then, Linn has introduced the Ekos and Ekos mk2, which rates directly against the ARO.

There is a whole host of other new arms available, but there are very few that will bolt straight on to the LP12 and work effectively. The other Linn arm is the Akito, and it is IMO a lesser arm than the Ittok.

Common wisdom is that the Ekos produces more of a Linn signature sound and works better with the Cirkus bearing and Lingo Power Supply. On the other hand, the ARO is classically Naim and seems to like the non-Cirkus bearing and obviously the Armageddon PSU. I didn't have the luxury of trialling the Ekos before buying the ARO and therefore cannot comment subjectively about Ekos vs ARO. But as you can tell from my original post, I am more than thrilled with the Ittok > ARO upgrade.

James

Resistance is Futile

It sounds logical that ARO matches Naim equipment.
I have ITTOK so I bear in mind that ARO is a great improvement.

Arie

Best wishes

Le Chef

In short, no. The Aro and Ekos are the two best arms, musically speaking, to put on an LP12. Either one makes the Grahams/Wheatons/Regas/SMEs etc sound silly. The worst arm I've heard on an LP12 was the Graham 2.0--sonically good but musically very confused.

Cheers,

Bob`

Happy day - and this is me making the leap from Akito all the way to Aro (a bit like jumping from the bottom rung to the top)...

It'll also be the first bit of Naim kit that I've bought. I hope it won't be the last...!!!

Merry Christmas, and once again, thanks a million, Paul, for your help in making this a successful transaction...!!!

John

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I've just concluded a deal to buy a secondhand Aro from a chap in Germany for a good price (<£500)

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That's a great buy. The chap wasn't Hartmut was it? You should be VERY pleased with the performance of your ARO and start uncovering musical detail hitherto unknown to the Akito.

James

Resistance is Futile

[This message was edited by James Jong on TUESDAY 26 December 2000 at 10:42.]

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That's a great buy. The chap wasn't Hartmut was it? You should be VERY pleased with the performance of your ARO and start uncovering musical detail hitherto unknown to the Akito

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Yeah, it was Hartmut's Aro - how did you know?

It should be up with me within the next week or so - Naim have it right now, and it's been checked over and given the seal of approval

It's been an expensive month - Aro, VPI 16.5 and a couple of levels of Mana - *all* for my vinyl!!!! Oh, I am a lucky boy

John

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Yeah, it was Hartmut's Aro - how did you know?

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Well, I knew he had a "spare" ARO and he lives in Germany. I tried to contact him to buy his ARO, but the distance and uncertainty involved didn't give me a lot of comfort. Hmmmmm ... VPI16.5, ARO, Mana .... sounds like deja vu.

James

Resistance is Futile

quote:

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Well, I knew he had a "spare" ARO and he lives in Germany. I tried to contact him to buy his ARO, but the distance and uncertainty involved didn't give me a lot of comfort. Hmmmmm ... VPI16.5, ARO, Mana .... sounds like deja vu.

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Yep, he is in Germany and I am in Edinburgh, so the distance could have been a problem, but (following an email) Paul Stephenson here at Naim agreed to act as a kind of independent verifier of the arm's condition and also a 'safe' third party to hold the arm whilst myself and Hartmut conducted the actual financial transaction itself - not as straightforward as I expected,
as UK and German banks are not yet on the same wavelength as regards inter-account transfers and so on.

The main thing was that either party could be sure that the third party (Naim) would act efficiently and without risk to either party (which it did, thanks again, Paul). Of course, I had no particular reason to doubt Hartmut's integrity, and likewise neither he me [that doesn't read right on second glance; nevermind ]

Nevertheless, with a highly sensitive and expensive item like a tonearm, I was taking no chances! <smile>

Now that the transaction is completed, I have arranged to have the Aro sent from Naim to the dealer who will fit it to my LP12. I am not sure if they have it yet or not (perhaps the Christmas holidays mean that key individuals are not around, so I'm not expecting to be able to complete the upgrade until the second week in January.

Meanwhile, it's a case of BUY, BUY, BUY all the vinyl I can find! I'm definitely aiming to average at least 3 LPs a week over the next 12 months!

The VPI was something I always knew I'd end up with; I'd looked s/h for ages, but never seen one. I didn't really want a s/h one anyway; one wouldn't buy a s/h vacuum cleaner, and that's basically what you're getting with the lower-end VPI (coupled with a high-torque turntable). So far, it's done everything I thought it would, although I still think that (at 400UKP plus
cost of fluids) it's a bit over-priced. Still, it's only going to get dearer as the demand ultimately falls off...

The Mana? A couple of flat-tops for my shelf - in the new year, I aim to make it to Phase 7 under the electronics and stay at Phase 5 under the LP12 (as it's a shelf, any more flat tops would necessitate starting from the floor - anyone want to buy a secondhand Mana wall-shelf or swap a Mana table for my shelf???? )

The only other purchase I'll be making will be a new CD player (probably a CD5) and a PSU (New Epona or s/h HiCap), and new speakers. Ah, this
spending thing never seems to stop

John

I just read that you are contemplating to buy a VPI 16.5 ...

Now, I had a VPI 17 for some years, but then sold it. It made just too much noise, like a *very* loud vacuum cleaner. It did hurt my ears, when I had to clean a record just before listening.

As you are living in UK, just buy a Monks or a Loricraft, they are much less noisy.

Right now, I am in a DIY project for a Monks' style record cleaner. A friend of mine managed to analyse the pump and the motion motors of the Monks (they are German and French, respective) and with a used Lenco idler wheel record deck, these give a 300UKP total cost hi-end record cleaner.

BTW, if you are still willing to buy a VPI 16.5, there are many mailorder companies from USA, where you can order with your credit card, European voltage is not a problem, it is an option, costing 10 USD or the like.

regards,
Hartmut from Munich,
Happy new year, and I hope you will enjoy the ARO

In any case, let me get on my soapbox again. For really clean records, use Buggtussel's Vinyl-zyme and a cheap RCM, or just use Disc Doctor fluids and brushes correctly.

DD is a drag to use, but there is no noise, so one can listen to music while cleaning records with the DD system.

Search on Buggtussel to find the links to both companies' web sites.

Regards.

Phil