Automatic Tonearm Lifter Experience?

T

TheRedMantra

New Member
Joined
May 21, 2019
Messages
23
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Received my tonearm lifter today. Cheap, Chinese Amari, Douk generic brand. Clever little design really but in practice it doesn’t work. The trip wire is under too much tension to release with the horizontal force of the tonearm. It pushes it until the wire springs the tonearm back out onto the record and repeats the action. Really unfortunate.

I feel like I can modify it to make it work but I just don’t trust it to be consistent. I want the Little Fwend. I cannot justify $249 for it. It is an artisan crafted, high precision piece of technology. But I just want something that works. Currently looking at the Audio Technica AT6006R. Does anyone have experience with it?

I am open to suggestions for other options as well. The turntable is a MoFi UltraDeck; not that I imagine it should matter much.

Thanks in advance for any input!
 

Attachments

  • 0C89AE03-94B9-4E66-971E-C98D71B88B85.jpeg
    0C89AE03-94B9-4E66-971E-C98D71B88B85.jpeg
    196.3 KB · Views: 30
Well I trust my Nag mp500 and my Koetsu Rosewood with the Levitator. While not super expensive I would not want to have to replace either one. It works very well, better than the Q-up which I have 2 of.
 
Bit the bullet and got the Audio Technica joint. I figure they have a solid reputation for a reason so it will be a workhorse. And I do like the looks. I modified the garbage one I bought and got it to work most of the time but it was still inconsistent and liked to just push the tonearm back toward the grooves. The Q-Up seems like a solid value but I can’t get past the aesthetic. The emotional gains of the AT are worth it to me in this case. I’ll post a long term review once I have a few hundred records played. Thanks again for the input, people.
 
I’ve always wanted a Little Fwend. It might actually positively add to aesthetics rather than detract, at least with the look of my table. But I definitely don’t want to pay for one.
 
TheRedMantra said:
The Q-Up seems like a solid value but I can’t get past the aesthetic.
Click to expand...

Yeah...that is one negative thing about the q-up. If I had a more audiophile set-up I would go for something a bit less plastic. One other thing is that 7"s have a bit smaller inner radius than LP's, so sometimes the q-up engages just before the end of the track, but bumping it back a little really isn't worth having to reset it for playing an LP...so I just leave it alone.
 
+1 on the Q-Up. Though if you have some engineering friends I feel they'd be able to slap something similar together pretty easily at a fraction of the cost. It's not a complicated (nor attractive) device, but works 100% of the time.
 
I ordered the AT AT6006RF this morning, I've been having too many close calls with almost not making it to the player in time. Since being stuck at home I've been listening to more records while doing other things and don't want to worry about my cartridge going onto the label. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get here, looking forward to trying it out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top