Тонармы — Reed REED 3P 12"

The REED 3P 12-inch is the long-wand build of the 3P, a Lithuanian tonearm made from wood, stainless steel and aluminium that is also produced in 9.5 and 10.5 inch forms. Each unit is assembled to the buyer's order and ships in four to six weeks, with a two-year warranty. A European list price for this length is EUR 5,000.67, and the US price is USD 7,055.

Key specs that matter

Mounting distance for the 12-inch version is 283.8 mm and the pivot sits 295.6 mm from the spindle. Geometry calls for 13.4 mm of overhang and a 17.6 degree offset. Effective mass at this length depends on the wand - 12 g with light or dark teak, 14 g with wenge and 18 g with Macassar ebony or cocobolo. Panzerholz and dark Macassar also appear among the wood choices. Metalwork finishes on the order form run to palladium, black, seashell white and three gold treatments - satin, matte and gloss, and the removable headshell adds a glossy ruthenium finish to that list.

Engineering and use context

Reed calls the bearing a gimbal that behaves like a unipivot. Three pivot points, backed by magnetic stabilisers on both axes, give gimbal stiffness while keeping friction down at unipivot levels. The 3P lets the owner alter VTA with a fine adjuster, set azimuth and change bias without lifting the arm from a spinning record. Its azimuth mechanism rotates the cartridge about the stylus tip, so turning it does not disturb overhang or height. Bias comes from magnets, a principle Reed first tried on its Mag prototype shown in 2011. Internal wiring has no soldered joints, and the conductors come from Stereo-Lux Musikanlagen. Reed picked wood for the wand after testing other materials, citing damping behaviour that follows a curve close to an exponential function. For the external lead, choices include a van den Hul lead ending in a Cardas 5-pin DIN plug, or 125 cm Zavfino copper or silver runs terminated in KLEI or WBT Nextgen RCA plugs.

Pairing

A 12-inch arm needs a turntable with a plinth or armboard that places the base at the specified distance from the centre of the platter. Reed's design notes target a resonance close to 10 Hz, with 8 to 12 Hz still within limits, and say a cartridge should stay under 20000 g*cm2 in moment of inertia. Across the wand options, a light teak wand fits compliant cartridges and the ebony or cocobolo options fit low compliance moving coil bodies.

Alternatives

The Reed 2G 12-inch is another Reed pivoted arm of the same length, built around a cardanic bearing and a wand that detaches at a LEMO plug.