Einstein Tonearm Boxed
Excellent with original packaging.
The Einstein arm is manufactured in Japan by one of the most experienced specialists: Ishiama san not only builds them, but also has built the arms for Ikeda and Fidelity Research. In the case of Einstein's The Tonearm, he uses a straight tube for the first time. At first glance, the tube is entirely made out of stainless steel. After having performed a series of experiments with steel, aluminum and carbon tubes, eventually a stainless steel-aluminum sandwich was chosen, with the inner aluminum tube being full-face glued to the outer steel tube to optimize the resonance behaviour of the arm. The Tonearm comes up with a very complex bearing: Relatively large ball bearings are mounted to a solid bearing block, which has been designed to ensure a quiet, extremely resonance-free and precise operation.
As with arms deriving from Japanese tradition, the Einstein also comes with a detachable headshell, allowing the adjustment of the azimuth after loosening two Allen screws. Fortunately, Volker Bohlmeier and Ishiama san paid particular attention to the alleged weak spot: Instead of using the usual single guide pin for defining the position of the headshell in the arm, two are used here instead. In addition, rhodium contacts are used for signal transmission, which are located in a Teflon cylinder specially made for this arm. After roughly adjusting the height of the arm, the extremely solid, mechanically fascinating base allows the fine adjustment of the VTA via a lever—as it used to be with the Micro Seiki. The effective mass of 18.5 grams makes the arm an ideal matchmaker for systems with medium and low needle compliance. Since Einstein – as already mentioned—also offers high-quality cables, it was no problem to get balanced cabling for The Tonearm. The Pickup's unusually thin connector pins—at that time my only point of criticism of this so vividly and homogeneously performing cartridge—are no longer a problem if you are a proud owner of an Einstein tonearm: there is a set of wires with extra-tight receptacles that perfectly match the pins of The Pickup.
