Series Six 12" arm

Full review by John Hoffman for "Positive Feedback" HERE

Owner observations (pdf)
HERE

Reworked armtube design
Carbon fibre is very much stiffer than an aluminium or steel tube (a factor of 9 to 6.5) and only about 60% of the density. This means that we can make a far stiffer arm tube for the same weight. Stiffness isn’t everything in an arm tube and here the major advantage of the new material really makes a difference. As a composite, a carbon fibre tube has a far superior internal damping than a metal one, a factor of 150:40 for aluminium.

The carbon fibre arm tube of the 12" is a multi-layer design, re-worked to make sure that the extreme neutrality of the Series Six family isn't compromised.

The outside diameter has been increased to 12mm from the 11mm of the shorter arms with the first 60mm less than 0.5mm thick, effectively isolating the headshell and cartridge to minimise any acoustic feedback. The tube thickness progressively increases to 1mm and finally 2mm internally with fibres aligned along and cross-woven for the best combination of stiffness and feedback supression, making it possible to achieve far greater control than with a metal tube. The audible difference is a major improvement in definition, imaging and fine detail and exceptional neutrality.

Completing the development of the 12" arm included a new silver litz wiring loom, a redesigned bearing assembly in the base and a new arm lift. All these have been rolled into the whole of the Series Six range as the 2025 "evolution" version.

Features

• Micrometer height setting for precise and repeatable vta adjustment.
• Built-in azimuth adjustment.
• Detachable cartridge plates for single-screw cartridge fitting.
  
• Constrained layer counterweight with removable copper/lead discs to vary the mass for cartridges of different weight sitting on a brass core/carbon-fibre skinned counterweight stub.
  
• Complete balanced one-piece wiring loom. Silver litz wire in micro-Teflon tubing, cryogenically treated signal wires in a single run from tags to KLE "bullet" RCA plugs. XLR termination optional.
• Infinitely variable antiskate.
• A set of four cartridge plates to suit most cartridges. Custom ones are available.
• Compatible with cartridges from 5 to 16grams.
  

Built-in azimuth adjustment
Though the arm arrives set true to the record surface tiny variations in stylus and cantilever mean that some adjustment might be necessary for a perfect setup. Releasing the azimuth lock and reference pin allowas the arm tube to rotate to set a custom azimuth.