Origin Live MK3C arms dual pivot - Manual (Page 2)

Page2
Understanding dual Pivot
Your Origin Live arm has innovative bearings. Th is is best
explained before going any further.
Dual pivot bearing design – why?
One of the many reasons that the Origin Live arms are
performance leaders is due to the dual pivot bearing,
on the horizontal axle (which governs the arms vertical
movement). Th
e design is similar in many respects to
uni-pivot – low friction and high decoupling which give
excellent defi nition and transparency. However uni-
pivots can be fi ddly to set up and because of their relative
instability exhibit a mediocre bass performance. Dual
pivots have all the advantages of uni-pivots but none of
the drawbacks. Vertical movement of the arm is handled
by the dual pivot and horizontal movement by our usual
highly specifi ed conventional bearings.
Floating bearings for horizontal rotation
Th ere is a certain amount of “rocking movement” on
the yoke vertical axis. Some people mistake this for poor
bearing fi t but this is far from the case. Whilst most
arms use “rigid” bearing fi ts, Origin Live is unique in
employing a “fl oating” bearing design - this is actauly
much harder to engineer and does not cause alignment
errors as the bearings are self centering and factory
settings of the headshell take account of this.
Handles like a conventional gimballed
arm
You should handle the arm in exactly the same way as a
conventional gimballed arm. In other words you do not
need to worry about setting up azimuth. Th
e azimuth has
already been set, such that the headshell is parallel to the
arm mounting surface. We strongly recommend that you
never adjust the factory setting without our permission, as
this will invalidate the warranty. Correct azimuth setting
is tricky at the best of times and unless an extremely
careful record is kept on the original factory settings the
arm will probably end up not working correctly.
How dual pivot works
Th e below illustration of the dual pivot bearing shows
how the horizontal axle is free to move a little in all
directions except downwards. Th
is may be a little
disconcerting until you become confi dent of the inherent
performance virtues delivered by this approach. It is also
reassuring to know that the arm cannot be knocked off it’s
bearings or come loose in any way. You can turn the arm
upside down and nothing will fall off as it would in the
case of a uni-pivot!
Th e pivot bearings are designed to reduce friction to an
absolute minimum. In doing this there is a fi ne balance to
achieve both a robust design whilst maintaining extremely
low friction. In practice, the arm must have a slight degree
of movement due to a sharp tungsten point in a shallow
radiused bearing cup. Th
e alternative to this is a very
sharp point in a deep v shaped cup – this would certainly
restrain the movement of the point but would also
increase friction and potential fracture of the tips.
Th e pivot points will “self centre” by sliding into the
bottom of the bearing cup. However the fi nal resting
place of the point may vary by 0.01mm or so. Th
is would
not be noticed without the use of a very accurate digital
stylus force gauge.
As the pivot position shifts fractionally it can cause the
tracking force to vary slightly, by around +0.06 grams
THREADED SPIKE
PILLAR CUP BEARING
PILLAR
CLAMPING
SCREW
Do not
touch
SPIKE CLAMPING SCREW
Do not touch
YOKE BARREL
END CAP