![analogue works turntable sme tonearm analogue works turntable sme tonearm](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/da/05/a3/da05a3b480b63b65115aadad747ae479.jpg)
![analogue works turntable sme tonearm analogue works turntable sme tonearm](https://i.imgur.com/aX1ipa4.jpg)
The structure is very strong and rigid in one direction and weak in another because of the alignment of those fibres. But give that plank a tap with an axe along its length and the plank will split with ease. Any plank will be cut with the grain along the length of the plank to produce a very rigid and strong structure under bending loads. The 'grain' of the wood is dictated by the alignment of the wood fibres. In this respect CF mimics natural materials like wood. Those properties are defined by the resin used and more importantly the number and configuration of the Carbon Fibre strands, because the stiffness and (very high) strength depends on the alignment of the fibres in the material. I guess everyone knows that CF is very stiff for a given weight, but it's a little more complex than that, and it's here that the SAT gets rather more interesting than just another arm with a carbon fibre tube.ĬF, unlike a homogeneous material like Aluminium, doesn't have a fixed set of properties. But CF is a whole order of magnitude more effective than glass-fibre because those Carbon strands are very stiff and give the composite that we commonly call 'Carbon-Fibre' properties well beyond those of glass-fibre. It's little different in concept to the glass fibre we've seen for years. So briefly what is CF all about?ĬF is a composite – it's essentially a plastic resin with thin strands of pure carbon fibres in it. In fact it's so sexy that people are sticking fake vinyl wrap on everything from telephones to car interiors to coffee mugs – to be honest it's so ubiquitous there is a danger of it becoming rather passe. CF is just such a sexy material – F1 car chassis, 'Dreamliner' wings, Helicopter-rotors, high-end bikes, even designer coffee-tables. That makes it ideal for the short-run specialist arm manufacturers as they can just choose a tube – the sort of thing tent poles are made of for example – and voila! A major part of the arm is sorted (I've even considered it myself:-)īut of late the material of choice has shifted to Carbon-Fibre (CF) with similar off-the-shelf tubes available. It's fairly light, stiff and tubes are available off-the-shelf in every conceivable diameter and thickness. The go-to material for many years has been Aluminium.
![analogue works turntable sme tonearm analogue works turntable sme tonearm](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3a/69/95/3a69959137ca1d8cf9339b6e361a7b42.jpg)
The parameters for a good material are stiffness (to resist the cartridge moving), light weight (to give a reasonable Effective Mass), lack of 'ringing', consistency (the problem with living materials like wood) and of course sheer practicality and cost. Over the years many materials have been used for arm-tubes – Steel, Aluminium, Magnesium,, Titanium, Acrylic, Wood, Bamboo – it seems that as long as you can get it long and thin someone will use it. It's this knowledge, and bundles of enthusiasm that he brings to the SAT arm, because the first interesting thing about it is that almost all the structure is made from Carbon Fibre. From being something that was a bit 'ho-hum – another expensive arm' it became something I was very keen to listen to at home.Ī little background - Marc Gomez isn't a typical enthusiast launching his pet arm, but a structural engineer who's specialized in high-tech fields such as automotive and aerospace components and in particular composite designs. But as I looked into the arm and conversed with its designer – Marc Gomez of Swedish Analogue Technologies (hence SAT for the arm) – I began to realize that that belying its appearance, here was an arm that was very different from the ordinary and which brought a new combination of both construction and materials to the marketplace.
![analogue works turntable sme tonearm analogue works turntable sme tonearm](https://www.analogtubeaudio.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC_6964-1024x685.jpg)
The problem was that it wasn't really anything new – to me it looked very much like a pumped up Zeta or Mission Mechanic with very bulky armtube and bearing rings and a much steeper price tag. When I first saw the pictures I was impressed – here seemed to be an arm following sound engineering principles. Here we have a new arm, from a new company that aims at the top end of the market where stratospheric pricing seems to come with wierd and wonderful engineering - much of which, I confess, looks decidedly dodgy to me. In what is becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace a new arm needs to stand out in some way and/or be keenly priced. It seems that far from being dead the vinyl world is in rude health one sign of that is the increasing number of turntables and arms coming onto the market, both from established and new set-up companies. Producer: Swedish Analogue Technologies - SwedenĬost : 11,200 Euro ( Currency conversion) Swedish Analogue Technologies' new SAT Arm Is Carbon Fibre the Answer?