Souther Tri-Quartz Linear Tonearm

Lou Souther was a friend of mine. I have been running his Tri-Quartz Linear Toneram on my VPI HW-19 Mk2 turntable since he first produced it. I wanted to mention how it functions as Paul brought it up in a video at the recent show. He thought it was driven by a worm gear. It is not driven by anything. It follows the whirl of the record the same way a pivot arm does. It achieves this using a 3 wheeled trolley that tracks on clear quartz rods. It you were to place a 45 rpm single on the platter off center without an adapter it will hold on and follow the record as it swings from inside to outside. Of course it would sound terrible because of the speed variation caused by the off center placement. I track my Ortofon OM-30 at 1.7 grams. It plays all my records perfectly from the outside to the inside of the disk, When set up properly which is quite a feet to achieve.
Lou taught me how to set it up correctly for proper error free tracking. It is nice to hear an album finish without inner groove distortion. The arm is very low mass in the vertical plane and medium mass in the horizontal plane. I use custom Petersen Emerald litzwire cables to connect it to my NPC. I have transcribed many of my records using Vinyl Studio and even removed tics and pops. Some people think the track needs to be cleaned frequently as they have not set there tonearm up correctly so it will stick on certain records. When set up properly I have no issue with sticking. It is a very neutral and dynamic tonearm. Harry Weissfeld worked with Lou and polished his spindles so when the spindle locator sets on it you do not get any noise. Today ClearAudio owns the license and manufactures a very expensive version of this tonearm. Hearing a record without tracking error is an ear opener for vinyl lovers. It is not a dead technology at all. Lou even made me an audio cassette to guide one through the setup of the tonearm. One thing about the arm it does have a short pivot to stylus distance so a severely warped record can cause warp induce wow. None of my thousands of record fall to that level and play fine.DSC04377

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I was a dealer for both Lou and Harry and sold that very TT/TA combination. Clearaudio was already interacting with Lou. He provided me with Clearaudio Veritas cartridges($800 retail in the 1985ish time frame). Sheila would answer VPIs phone. Lou would answer his.

It was a great TT/TA combination.

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I think Harry still has one of these on one of his tables! A great linear arm. I was always a fan of that arm.

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My turntable system improved with the change to the SAMA Stand Alone Motor Assembly and the VPI SDS Synchronous Drive System. This turntable and torearm are definitely keepers.

I picked up a SOTA Sapphire with a Souther SLA-3 linear arm a few years ago. Once dialed in, I’ve had no issues. Really like it



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What a classic combination, and welcome, Gary!

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I haven’t seen another one of these tonearms in a long time. I also have one on a very old turntable.

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Lou was a very intelligent engineer. He knew that the best way for a linear tracking tonearm to traverse a record surface was using the whirl of the record to move the arm just as it does in a pivot tonearm. No noise air pump that can fail and end up with a destroyed stylus. No mechanical motorized drive that makes noise and waddles across the record. He developed dry bearings and quartz rods to accomplish this task. It tracks the record the way the lathe cut it. If set up properly without any tracking error. Glad to see another one still in use.

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Mine came with the original box and various accessories. Did not get the little level/height tool. Been using same cart since I got it. Only problem I’ve had was the connecting spring clip broke (see red arrow) and channel dropped out. Managed to solder it and has worked since.


Glad that you were able to repair the issue. I bought my arm directly from Lou. I have all the various tools. It is important that the track is parallel to the platter. When adjusting the stylus position you must get it positioned in the center of the gauge line at the inner and outer portions of the record. It takes practice to get it set up correctly. When you do the end result is very good.