New Tonearm

[Albert Porter]

A few weeks ago I decided to purchase the new Kuzma 4 Point 14", I've had my eye on this ever since it came out. I needed custom length and requested 1.7 M silver so this had to be built.

I owned the Kuzma 4 Point 12" but it was near impossible to use with my custom Technics SP10 MK3 since the 12" actually fits more like what would be expected from a 9".

This new Kuzma 14" is 291MM mount distance from spindle to pivot. Very close to what my SME V12 requires.

After unpacking I connected the Kuzma to my DAC analog output via clips to each of the four head shell leads. The RCA end of the tonearm cable plugged into my preamp and I ran signal for 160 hours.

Yesterday I mounted the arm to my table and did an initial set up. Of course there's more to do but my initial response is positive and it will get better with additional hours and fine adjustment.

[Rob]

whats the effective mass? that's gotta be the largest counter weight I've ever seen on an arm

[Albert Porter]

Rob,

Mass is 2150 gram, effective mass 19 gram

[MylesBAstor]

How does the effective mass affect choice of cartridges Albert?

[kcin]

Nice! I love my Kuzma 4-point 11" version-- the 14" looks like a piece of military gear. You will love it. Keep us posted on your impressions.

[rockitman]

That thing is impressive !

[MylesBAstor]

Man the Kuzma dwarfs the SME!

[Marcus]

Congrats Albert. Looks cool on your turntable. If you liked the regular 4Point, you will like the 14' even more.

[Albert Porter]

True. The regular 4 point has received praise from every reviewer that's auditioned it.

[Gusf]

Beautiful Table and arm. Anxious to hear how it all sounds. Congrats!

[Albert Porter]

Thank you

[Bill Hart]

Albert is the man. The Johnny Holmes version.

[Albert Porter]

Man the Kuzma dwarfs the SME!

True and the SME is the V12 model, the big one. Regarding your question about effective mass.

There are charts for matching compliance of the cartridge to a tonearm, I've read several of them and plugged in numbers but I'm no expert on the topic.

Supposedly the Koetsu Coralstone and Air Tight Opus both work better in tonearms with a bit higher mass. The SME V12 is slightly light to correct depending on who you ask. I'm hoping the Kuzma brings better performance but sometimes these things turn out to be a trade off.

One thing for sure, the continuous run of premium silver wire from cartridge clips to phono input RCA is a good thing. The SME and many other designs have several breaks in that path due to design of the head shell, addition of a DIN connector and tonearm plug with clips on either side.

[MylesBAstor]

[Letsmakeadeal]

Very nice Albert. I will be looking forward to your review. Cool looking Stabilizer BTW. Can you tell us something about it? Source? Sound? Price?

Thanks

[MylesBAstor]

Link to the review is in the above post!

[Albert Porter]

Very nice Albert. I will be looking forward to your review. Cool looking Stabilizer BTW. Can you tell us something about it? Source? Sound? Price?

Thanks

The stabilizer is TTM Stainless with oil filling. It's my favorite weight along with TTM stainless mat.

[Spla'nin]

Now that you have had some time with the 14", any chance to try a CAR or find other any other cartridges to be good with this arm besides the Air Tight Opus & Koetsu Coralstone? Thanks

[Albert Porter]

Spla'nin,

I sold the Koetsu Coralstone and now have a Kiseki Purple Heart in the second Kuzma 4 Point 14".

The Kiseki is excellent in this arm, surprising performance for a relatively inexpensive cartridge. If I were going to try another cartridge I might go back to Lyra. Maybe the Kuzma would put more meat on the bones of the Lyra than the SME did. My standard is the Air Tight Opus, seems to be pretty much perfect for my system and taste.

[Tango]

I have an Opus1 on SAT. The combo used to be my favorite. I also had Atlas SL on SAT before, they sounded too much like playing tape straight to solid stage base system. Now I have Atlas SL on a vintage Ortofon 297 and they are my new favorite. The combo works miracle. Atlas owners wont believe it is Atlas. The best natural midrange. Beat both Coralstone and Opus1 in my system. Not only midrange, realism is extraordinary. The resolution cannot match the Opus, but the weight, density and dimensionality is even better. Not the characteristics of Atlas I heard on different arms. I just enjoy the musical performance and less attracted by "revealing" sounds. Sometime I wonder the resolution of Opus on SAT is a bit too much. Its like watching a HD movie sometime seeing that the dirts on Private Ryan uniform is fake just distract the enjoyment. Different tastes and flavours though. Greatly depends on the matching with arm and tt, imo.