JJkizak Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 What ever happened to linear tracking turntables and why? I thought they were the wave of the future 30 years ago. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 They were very expensive by contrast with other good turntables, and to my knowledge, only Pioneer and B&O made them. Somebody else made a vertical format table that vanished pretty quickly. I think Radio Shack also sold a rebranded Pioneer. The higher cost and the lack of audible difference (to most folks) made them the perfect solution to a non-problem. Garrard marketed a TT with a pivoting cart shell (the X-100 I think) that was said to achieve the same degree of tracking accuracy, but improved cassettes pretty much sealed the doom of mass-market vinyl before CDs came along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffgeorge Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Yamaha made a nice linear direct drive table in the mid 80's. My Dad still has it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minn_male42 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 i owned a mitsubishi linear table for about 20 years before sold it last year.... did a great job.... but it didn't sound any better than the used B&O TT that i bought to replace it.... (i sold the mitsubishi for more than the B&O i bought)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 My brother Terry has a Sansui linear tracking turntable, so there are a few manufactuers that made them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I always thought that linear tracking was a good idea since the masters were cut that way. I guess that was the thought behind it, anyway. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
middlecreekguy Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 There are some threads on this subject in the archives. Do a search using the word "Linear". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 My 20 year old Sony turntable, the PS-LX510, is a linear tracker. A pretty cheap variant of the breed, though. But, it still works well, after all these years, and it is pretty much immune to skating problems and inner-groove distortions, at least as far as my tin ears can tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 http://www.musicalsurroundings.com/clearaudio/linear.html http://stereophile.com/analogsourcereviews/258/index.html http://www.audiolimits.com/html/body_airtangent_tonearm.html http://home.t-online.de/home/bernhard.kistner/LT-1_index.htm http://www.positive-feedback.com/pfbackissues/0605/gordon.tonearm.6n5.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 I had two different linear tracking turntables both from Harmon Kardon, one was the Rabco ST-7 and the other an ST-8, the only problem I ever experienced with them was the need to adjust the tracking of the arm quite often so that it did not lag or lead the grooves. the supposed benefit was that you were tracking the grooves always at a parallel angle, reading in the same way as the lathe head was cutting. made sense to me, the swing of the tone arm always means that except for obne point in its swing it is not tracking thwe groove as it was cut... there were really two genres, a low end grouping (like those mentioned above) and high-end attempt (like the H/K and newer versions from clearaudio, etc.) one sits in a closet now and the other my father uses...nice looking high-end pieces these were in the late 70´s...regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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