AVID Hifi, the UK based high end hifi manufacturer, unveiled their new tonearms at High End Munich 2017. This is their next step towards “a complete AVID system”.

Conrad Mas of AVID told us: “We are delighted to confirm advance information of three new products which are in final development. The long awaited AVID pickup arms made their debut in prototype format at the Munich High End Show. We have placed the control of energy flow at the heart of all our designs”.

“We have established the key to good sound is separating the good and bad vibrations at source, and giving the ‘bad’ vibrations a path-ofleast-resistance to an ‘energy sink’ where it can be harmlessly converted into heat. With our turntables we optimised the main bearing to ground the record to the massive Acutus subchassis. Our tonearm designs follow the same path-of-least-resistance philosophy, grounding the cartridge and transferring the bad vibrations to the subchassis whilst supporting and maintaining the structural rigidity the cartridge requires”.

AVID Oxytone Pickup Arm

AVID has employed 3D printing technology to produce a single piece titanium arm tube. In combination with an internal bracing structure, an internal energy conducting beam transfers bad vibration to the subchassis. Rigidly coupled bearings ensure vibration transfer and a preload system keeps constant pressure regardless of ambient temperature and prevents damage due to accidental overloading. Bi-axis bearing configuration places the counterweight over the rotational axis, reducing damaging lateral inertia. Fixed weight bias compensation avoids the use of resonating springs, a magnetic mass compensator offsets bearing loading and a unique locking system makes adjustment of VTA quick and simple.

AVID Paroxytone Pickup Arm Avid Barytone Pickup Arm

Conrad explained further: “Cascading the Oxytone design philosophy, both Paroxytone and Barytone use titanium technology. A 3D printed titanium headshell is coupled to aerospace grade high tensile thin wall titanium tubing reducing its ability to store unwanted energy, maintaining high rigidity and transmitting vibration to the mounting. Our new rigid bearing pre load system used in the Oxytone is transferred to our other designs. Features include easy adjustable VTA on the Paroxytone and the Barytone the classic single locking point”.

AVID expect all tonearms to be in full production Q4 2017, Prices to be confirmed.