CES 2013

Triplanar debuted a 12" version of its popular tonearm at CES 2013. Key to the design is a new damped carbon fiber tube that maintains the effective mass of the 9" model. There are pros and cons associated with 12" tonearms. The pros: approximately 23% lower tracking error and with a smaller offset angle, less skating.

The cons include a higher moment of inertia and thus a slower response warps, as well as the magnification of tracking error should you not do a spot-on set up. Also rigidity may be compromised depending on the construction of the longer tube.

My opinion is that all things being equal, 9" arms hit the 'sweet spot' and if you set one up correctly the amount of tracking error distortion will be lower than that of the rest of your system and thus become essentially irrelevant. That's just an opinion!

The photo shows both the standard and new 12" versions. The use of a different tube material may (or may not!) alter the sound.