Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

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Cressy Snr
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#1 Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Cressy Snr »

I’ve decided to make a new thread about Ant’s uni-pivot arm, because having it in the previous thread with its unfortunate ‘scrap’ title is IMO inappropriate, given the quality of what he has developed. I’ve been using this arm for the past week or so at my place and it is frankly superb.
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The arm currently carries a Dynavector DV20X2 high output moving coil cartridge and is the arm previous to his latest version.
The pivot housing carries a sapphire single-point bearing and on this version there is no lift/lower device. However this is not a problem as the finger lift sits well above the record surface and I have added my own little touch, in the form of an orange plastic bead, so that I can see where the lift is in low light conditions. You can literally just grab hold of the finger lift and not send the arm careering across the record. It is definitely the best hand cueing experience I’ve had with an arm and uni-pivots are usually a complete PITA to hand cue. The bead is functional as well as adding a bit of 1950s atomic age retro chic to the look of the arm.

Soundwise the whole thing is neutral, controlled and throws a nice image with plenty of width and depth. It does not get flustered when the going gets busy and it tracks like a train. Frequency range is wide and stable, and surface noise is well suppressed.The overall presentation is clean, detailed, musical and dynamic. It’s a cracker of a pickup arm and deserves wider exposure.
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Paul Barker
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#2 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Paul Barker »

I woont that one!

lifting the mayware is like driving a Triumph Herald that needs new shocks!
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simon
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#3 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by simon »

Is that the same arm I tested? It was very good, I'm tempted.
Cressy Snr
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#4 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Cressy Snr »

simon wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 1:26 pm Is that the same arm I tested? It was very good, I'm tempted.
Dunno, you’d have to ask Ant.

Edit: rambling removed for clarity of Ant’s answer to Simon’s question.
Last edited by Cressy Snr on Tue Feb 22, 2022 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ant
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#5 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Ant »

No it wasnt that one, the one you tested was quite a bit earlier
Also starring Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

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simon
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#6 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by simon »

Oh right, time flies when you're busy at work!
Cressy Snr
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#7 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Cressy Snr »

Picked up my own Lenco from our Ant this afternoon, with the CX unipivot fitted, plus a new armboard:
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My Audio Technica ATVM95EN has been fitted. It sounds excellent on the CX arm.
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#8 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Thermionic Idler »

Watching with interest. I want to build a second system for the office with a Quad 34 preamp. I already have a GL75 ready to go in a new plinth and I'll need an arm and cartridge to go on it. The idea is to use the same deck to run demos at Owston, because transporting the Garrard literally requires a team of professional movers experienced with pianos.

The low-output version of that Dynavector looks like a good match with the Millett phono stage too.
Deck: Garrard 301 - Audio Origami PU7 - NW Analogue DH3S
Phono: Pete Millett LR, Lundahl SUT, AMB σ22 PSU
Linestage: Bruno Putzeys Balanced Pre + Hans Polak relay mod, LCDuino control
Power amps: 300B PP 'Symmetric Reichert'
Speakers: FF225WK Big Mets
Cressy Snr
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#9 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Cressy Snr »

Well, it’s a superb arm. I only have the second prototype. Ant has the later one, which has a lift/lower device.

I had a small issue with the longer length of the CX unipivot compared to the SME 3009 arm. I terrified myself when hand cueing it, due to the proximity of the speed change lever to the cartridge when swinging the arm over a record from the rest.
The missus had a 1960s red necklace, made up of different sized plastic beads and kindly allowed me to destroy it. A bit of careful drilling later and I ended up with a small bead at the end of the fingerlift and a larger one to replace the speed change lever handle:
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Very atomic and very retro. I love it. :D
The ‘$tateside’ badge is not fixed, I’m just weighing up the aesthetics of that particular item.
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Cressy Snr
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#10 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Cressy Snr »

Been pimping up the Lenco this week:
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Put some nicer feet on it and sprayed the platter black as the cream paint was looking the worse for wear due to me not priming the metal properly in the first place. It now looks a lot better.

I shortened the wires coming out of the armtube and made up some red sleeves for the tags:
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Polished up the lateral balance weights with a bit of brasso:
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Cressy Snr
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#11 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by Cressy Snr »

Nice:
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simon
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#12 Re: Jewel Bearing Carbon Fibre Uni-Pivot

Post by simon »

That's pretty groovy Steve :thumbright:
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