The making of the Talea™
In order to achieve the sound quality and the ease of use that I am looking for, some of the parts making up the Talea™ are very complex. The most involved part to machine is probably the "lower arm plate."
It is in many ways the "heart" of the Talea™. It serves as support for the pivot, the azimuth tower, the anti-skating mechanism, the arm lift and the arm rest, and it rests on the VTA column, transmitting vibrations coming from the arm wand into the turntable. Some of its construction involves machining tolerance of .0005" (12 µm), so that the part achieves ideal mating with the others. On a 2-axis mill, its fabrication takes about 7 hours. Fortunately, there are more elaborate mills that can make it in much shorter times--although their programming is quite involved (and they cost a fortune!). Different materials were evaluated in order to find the one that yielded the best sound for this critical part, as well as all others involved in the construction of the Talea™.
Lower arm plates fresh off the mill
The Talea™ armwand
(photo Michael Cole © 2010)
While the 1st generation Talea™ used the exotic hardwood Jatoba, it was found that, given the changes in other materials, another exotic hardwood, the Bolivian Rosewood now gave superior results. As before, the shape of the armwand was derived from careful analysis of the shape of the violin bow. Its cross section, in particular, is designed to allow the ideal combination of flexibility and rigidity for this application.
After the "raw" armwand is received from our woodworker, it first undergoes an 11-step process of sanding. It is then measured and weighed for archival purpose, the other parts of its assembly are added, and it is tested for mechanical balance.
If all is well so far, it is wired and tested for sound: this is the "tuning," where final adjustments in shape can be made if necessary. Once the results are satisfactory, the armwand then undergoes a staining process similar to the one that has been used by bow makers for centuries. It is let to dry and finally goes back on the turntable, where it is played for several days.
The Talea™ headshell
If the user likes to change cartridges often, it might be worth having more than one cartridge plate. One can simply leave the cartridges fastened on their respective plate, simplifying the process of mounting them on and off on the armwand (alignment will still be needed for each cartridge, though!).
(photo Michael Cole © 2010)
Setting the pivot-spindle distance
Usually, this distance is measured with a ruler; that is sometimes a very difficult proposition, specially with tonearms that have no specific markings for the pivot location. With the Talea™, you don't need a ruler. A convenient and very simple tool is provided with the tonearm: the pivot-spindle jig.
The images explain the procedure. Simply engage the larger hole of the pivot-spindle jig into the spindle of the turntable. Then rotate the base of the tonearm (or move the armboard, on those turntables that have moveable armboards), until the pivot shaft is engaged in the smaller hole of the jig. When it is, the correct pivot-spindle distance is set!
For further reading on the subject of alignment, you can find a number of excellent references on the subject in our Support/Links section.
