Тонармы — Reed REED 5T

The 5T is a tonearm from Reed, the Lithuanian tonearm maker, and the company's first tangential design. It is not a linear-tracking arm on a rail but a pivoted arm that keeps its cartridge tangential to the groove, based on Thales' theorem, with a small motor and a laser guidance system correcting its angle during play. The price is about USD 23,995.

Key specs that matter

Tracking error is ±5 minutes of arc, compared with about 1.5 degrees for conventional pivoted arms. The rotating part turns on a low-noise thrust-sleeve bearing. The mounting distance is 251 mm, and platters up to 330 mm in diameter are accommodated, with a platter height range of 28 to 48 mm. VTA can be set with a precision of ±0.2 mm and azimuth over ±8 degrees. Downforce ranges from 10 to 30 mN, and cartridges from 5.5 to 19.5 g can be fitted, or from 4.0 to 25.0 g as an option. Armwands are user-replaceable, with effective mass depending on the wood - wenge or Macassar ebony at 10 to 14 g, cocobolo at 12 to 18 g and teak at 8 to 14 g. Power comes at 12 V from Reed's BS-12V or Source 12V battery supply.

Engineering and use context

Any ordinary pivoted arm moves along an arc, so its cartridge is only exactly tangential to the groove at two points across the record, and the resulting tracking error changes across the side. The 5T keeps the tangential angle throughout by rotating the arm with a limited-rotation sectional torque motor. A laser beam falls on a linear sensor array, detects the arm's position and tells the motor how to correct it as the stylus moves inward. Because the stylus follows the groove at the correct angle, no skating force arises, and the arm needs no anti-skating mechanism. The design also has a smaller moment of inertia than conventional arms of similar length, so the arm responds easily to groove movements. Interchangeable wooden armwands of different species change both the effective mass and the resonance behaviour, which allows the arm to be matched to cartridges of different compliance. Battery power for the motor and sensor keeps mains noise away from the arm electronics.

Pairing

The wide cartridge weight range and choice of armwands let the 5T work with most moving-coil and moving-magnet cartridges, lighter armwands suiting high-compliance models and heavier ones low-compliance designs.

Alternatives

The Reed 5A is another current tonearm from the same Lithuanian maker, listed alongside the 5T.