Michell TecnoArm A Tonearm – Black

Here we have a fine Tonearm from British engineering company Michell Audio. The TecnoArm A is basically a heavily reworked Rega arm using some clever and well executed engineering. The main differences being the bead-blasted finish, the drilled underside and the fitment of the Michell TecnoWeight which lowers the centre of gravity and hence inertia of the arm. Our example is in very good condition, will be supplied in original factory packaging, and comes complete with our regular three month warranty.
Michell Say….
The TecnoArm A and our Rega retrofit accessories continue a tradition of Michell-engineered value for money tonearms that goes back to the Fluid and Focus unipivot models of the 1970s.The TecnoArm A is a re-engineered Rega tonearm with very high quality rewiring. The arm tube is bead-blasted and perforated to disperse structural resonances and lower the effective mass. The arm tube is internally damped to eliminate unwanted resonances and the headshell is machined flat, to allow true azimuth relative to the bearing cradle. After modification, the bearings are re-adjusted for highest possible performance, according to original Rega procedures.
Every tone arm ever built faces the same design problem – the control of resonances. Drop a metal rod, an arm tube on a hard surface and it will resonate. You will experience this as a ‘ring’ . You cannot avoid it. Every item has at least one resonance.
The skill is to engineer the arm to shift the resonances to where they will do the least musical damage. This is exactly what we have done. All the modifications, the 22 precision drilled holes in the arm tube, the internal tube damping, setting the counterweight to precisely match the stylus / groove interface and the arm wiring (arm wires resonate too of course) are there for very practical and valid engineering reasons.
We apply the bead-blasted process to harden the surface. The underside of the headshell is aligned to the main bearings and precision milled in a jig, ensuring zero azimuth for the cartridge. The arm is internally damped and rewired with one continuous length of 99.999% pure silver Litz wire between our own silver-plated machined cartridge clips and the silver-plated RCA plugs.
The changes we have made over the Rega tonearm have resulted in a tonearm with extremely high structural rigidity, combining very low friction movement together with incredible stability.
Do not be surprised if the first time you listen to familiar music, you hear detail that you have not heard before! Transients and decays are particularly well handled. The arm does not emphasise any particular frequencies. Bass is powerful, yet accurate and as good as anything at twice the price.
The very highest frequencies, cymbal harmonics for example, are more precise and clear. Users have frequently commented on the noticeably lower noise floor – by which they mean that surface noise is less prominent.
Features:
One-piece perforated arm casting with internal foam damping
Proprietary silver Litz cable in a continuous run from cartridge to amplifier
PTFE dielectric, metal braided shielding, separate ground wire
Silver-plated cartridge clips and phono plugs
Vertical tracking force adjuster in steps of 0.1g
Three point vertical tracking angle adjuster