Origin Live Illustrious Tonearm Mk4

Description

This tonearm sounds astonishing, compared to Origin Live arms further down the range, and its commercial rivals. The ground-breaking design and meticulous attention to detail result most noticeably in an improvement of bass performance. However as always, when you go higher in the Origin Live range, every other aspect improves, notably definition, deep powerful bass, transparency and dynamics.

The result is a tonearm that has been widely acclaimed as a performance benchmark. Both reviewers and enthusiasts love the Illustrious for its outstanding bass power, superb dynamics and consummate musicality. It has supreme transparency too, allowing the finest cartridges to be used. Few designs better this brilliant device.

Features

Headshell features improved de-coupling and lightweight finger-lift.

Dual Pivot Bearings. For vertical arm movement the bearings consist of Ultra-hard tungsten carbide points sitting in hardened and burnished steel cups. This combination not only delivers incredibly low friction levels but is also much more robust than jewelled bearings which tend to shatter under stress. The results are incredible transparency, fluidity and retrieval of fine detail.

Precise & Accessible VTA Adjuster. VTA can be adjusted precisely and infinitely using a large diameter calibrated dial. A further advantage is that all adjustments can be carried out above the arm-board (unlike lower arms in the range which demand access below the arm-board).

Falling Weight Side Bias. Tests show this to be the highest performing method of achieving side bias. It has lower friction, better constant force and lower resonance than other alternatives such as magnets, springs, levers and twisted threads.

Internal Wiring is high-grade copper Litz wire, cryogenically frozen to reduce discontinuities in the conductors. This wire allows great transparency, detail and freedom from artefacts.