Analog Corner

Setting Up the ViV Labs Rigid Float
Though the one-sheet accompanying the Rigid Float 9 says "just put it anywhere," that's not quite true. The tonearm comes with an L-shaped alignment jig that you put over the spindle (the hole is too big and the fit is sloppy). As with SME's alignment system, you line up the straight arm tube directly over the jig, but instead of sliding the arm along a track to set overhang, you set underhang by manually moving the base until the stylus sits in a tiny, almost invisible circle near the end of the L jig. Also as with the SME system, more than a bit of subjectivity is involved in outlining the armtube against the jig below.

The arm base's considerable weight makes it unsuitable for spring-suspended turntables. At worst, the weight will collapse many spring suspensions; at best, it will de-level the plinth and require the sort of adjustment of spring compensation that causes Linn owners, for instance, mental breakdowns—unless you can mount the arm on an external pod. A perfectly level pod is required for proper operation; a large bubble level is set into this one's top.

I set up the Rigid Float 9 on three turntables: the VPI Classic Direct Drive, the Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, and the Music Hall MMF 11.1. Cartridges used were the Lyra Helikon SL and Titan i, and the Transfiguration Phoenix.

Once I'd installed the cartridge, approximated the VTF, correctly positioned the arm, and set the underhang, it was time to fine-tune the VTF. Here is where I ran into the first problem with the Rigid Float: setting precise VTF proved very difficult. First, the counterweight "system" consists of two weights that fit very loosely on a threaded rod extending from the back of the arm. If you could use both weights, you could snug one up against the other to tighten them; however, balancing each of the three cartridges I tried required only one weight.

At first, I quickly set the Phoenix to about 1.75gm. When I re-checked it after positioning the arm and saw that the VTF was now over 2.2gm, I figured I'd bumped the counterweight, or that it sat so loosely on its threaded shaft that it had rotated on its own. But when I took more time and care in setting VTF, I discovered the problem: the Rigid Float 9 has a very long settling time. I set the VTF to 1.8gm; it appeared to have settled—the tiny circle on the gauge that indicates "settled" had appeared—but instead of removing the gauge, I watched and waited. Over the next 90 seconds, the gauge went from 1.8 to 2.52gm.

I reset VTF so that, when the ViV Lab arm was finished settling, the gauge read 1.8gm. But the Rigid Float really never fully settled—and this was on the unsuspended VPI 'table sitting on a rock-stable HRS base. I took that VTF reading near the outer edge of the platter. When I measured near the inner-groove area, I found a 0.25gm discrepancy. I then raised the gauge about ½" and observed a drop of 0.25gm, which indicated that the arm was, like the Kuzma 4Point, negatively balanced. Unless you play a lot of seriously warped records, that will not be a serious problem, in my opinion.

My other observations do indicate serious problems, and they made me re-read the manual, where I found this: "Often the recommended tracking force is not the best because of various conditions. We strongly recommend to try to find the best tracking force frequently." (My italics.)

Sound
Multiple variables were at work, so it was difficult to determine what was producing the Viv Lab Rigid Float 9's consistent sound quality. However, the three cartridges all sounded more lush, more full bodied, more richly textured than they do in more traditional tonearms.

I don't know about you, but the sound produced by my turntable and tonearm using the Löfgren A offset geometry and carefully set antiskating has never produced obvious unwanted sonic artifacts. In fact, ever since I got really serious about turntable setup—using a precision overhang gauge, a digital microscope, and a WallySkater or a track from Telarc's Omnidisc test LP—and began setting azimuth electronically, whether with Dr. Feickert Analogue software, a digital oscilloscope, or the most primitive but still efficacious voltmeter at the speaker outputs (as described on my turntable-setup DVD), the absence of audible distortion, shifting images, or other unwanted artifacts has always impressed and amazed me. Other than the lifelike sound only vinyl provides, you aren't aware that you're playing vinyl.

So I can't be sure whether the sonic characteristics produced by the Rigid Float 9 resulted from its unique bearing system, its underhung geometry, or both.

I played dozens of LPs with the Rigid Float. Some, like Cécile McLorin Salvant's highly recommended Woman Child (Mack Avenue 1072LP), sounded gorgeous. Classical and jazz fared best; rock sounded too thick and rich for me, but I know people who will absolutely love this sound. Overall attack was somewhat softened, sustain prolonged, and decay significantly shortchanged.

The main event sounded enriched, while the context—the space around the instruments, as well as the space in which all of them were played—was significantly diminished. It was almost as if my system's electronics had been swapped out for warm, rolled-off–sounding tube gear. Instruments and voices were full-bodied, round, and solid. Harmonics were intensified, but transient attack was only slightly softened, which was impressive.

Some people absolutely crave this kind of sound. In my experience, it's the sound produced by, say, Audio Note and Shindo tubed electronics, whose advocates claim that these products "make music" to the exclusion of everything else, while detractors claim that they produce a distinct set of colorations that enhance most recordings, which are inherently imperfect.

In any case, I could still hear the negative sonic effects that Koichiro Akimoto believes are produced by skating, an offset headshell, and Löfgren's overhang geometry. But I'd like to hear a controlled experiment in which the only variable is the geometry.

Preliminary Conclusions
I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with ViV Lab's Rigid Float 9 tonearm. Clearly a result of a designer thinking outside the box, it represents some original thinking, and produced a sound that many will appreciate. But I was seriously troubled by the arm's drifting VTF, which no amount of fiddling seemed to fully resolve. Correct, consistent, repeatable VTF across a record's surface, and quick, nearly instantaneous settling time strike me as crucial, and these were things the Rigid Float seemed incapable of providing.

Upsetting apple carts
Defective products aren't often encountered in Stereophile reviews. Products found to be defective are returned for working samples, though the fact that the sample was defective is still noted in the review. That standard operating procedure was tripped up by the ViV Laboratory Rigid Float tonearm's unorthodox design and poorly translated instruction manual.

The manual states something unusual: "Often the recommended tracking force is not the best because of various conditions. We strongly recommend to try to find the best tracking force frequently." (My italics.) So I assumed that the difficulties I experienced in finding the right vertical tracking force (VTF) were normal.

Also, the instructions don't mention a small, knurled aluminum nut that's used to secure the counterweight. So after removing all of the pieces mentioned in the manual, I closed the box and got to work setting up the arm.

I submitted my review, and a copy was sent to ViV Laboratory and their importer for comment. ViV claimed that the behavior I described in the review was not normal, nor were the words used in the manual meant to imply that it was "frequently" necessary to "try to find the best tracking force."

Editor John Atkinson decided to postpone the review while we investigated the matter, resulting in the absence from Stereophile of "Analog Corner" for the first time in 19 years.

As it turned out, the review sample was not defective per se, but behaved as if it were because the amount of magnetic fluid specified by the manual to be injected into its bearing cup—this was the amount I'd injected—was incorrect. Nothing in the manual suggested circumstances under which additional fluid should be added. What's more, the importer said that Rigid Floats had originally been shipped with fluid already injected because, usually, the fluid didn't leak. But because it had leaked in a few instances, Viv Lab decided to ship the fluid separately, in a syringe.

The importer sent me two additional arms, in lengths of 7" and 9", both with fluid already injected. When I opened their boxes, it was clear that neither reservoir had leaked. And once set up, both arms behaved very differently from the first arm.

While the first arm was indeed "rigid" and, as described in my original review, could not be moved fore or aft, the 7" and 9" arms were easily moved along that axis. More important, both quickly and consistently retained a reliable VTF setting. In other words, despite the Rigid Float's unusual design, the two additional arms behaved as claimed.

The designer, Koichiro Akimoto, at first claimed that the "slop" in the "underhang" gauge's spindle hole was deliberate, to accommodate the large spindles of Garrard and other vintage turntables. That seems backward to me. Better to make the hole the correct size and let Garrard owners enlarge it. Apparently, that's how the gauge will be shipped in future.

The manual, too, will be changed to indicate the minimum clearance that must be achieved for proper operation, and how much additional fluid should be injected should be the initial, prescribed amount prove insufficient.

Underhung Sound
The 7" and 9" Rigid Float arms had sonic personalities that seemed to go along with their increased freedom of movement They sounded more open, airy, and extended on top than the first, longer, sample, while the midrange of each was gloriously smooth, and images were rock-solidly three-dimensional. Bass was meaty and full bodied, yet well controlled. Tonally, these arms sounded like Miyajima Labs cartridges, though with less soundstage depth than those cartridges produce.

I recently received a copy of No Place to Fall (LP, Monsoon MS 204), an album superbly recorded, live in the studio, by West Coast singer-songwriter Kathleen Grace. Grace has three previous albums to her credit; in this one, she "plants her jazz roots in the soil of classic country music."

If that sounds like Norah Jones, so does the very talented Grace—with a bit of Kathleen Edwards thrown in. If you hear this album, I'm sure you'll find the comparison unavoidable, and no doubt the production team had Jones's superbly recorded output in their ears, and they've done an excellent job of creating a sonic landscape similar to that of Jones's Come Away With Me. "No Place to Fall," a Townes Van Zandt tune, has it all—air, space, image dimensionality, sparkling brushwork, etc.—as does one of Grace's own songs, the atmospheric "Fine Young Woman."

I'd played No Place to Fall numerous times using the Transfiguration Proteus cartridge mounted on the Continuum Audio Labs Cobra tonearm, preparing for a review of the album for AnalogPlanet.com. When the 7" Rigid Float arrived, I set up the Helikon SL cartridge—and, later, the Transfiguration Proteus—and listened again. Despite its unique, floating "non-bearing" system, the Rigid Float proved to be a fine groove tracker, within the greater amount of tracking-error distortion acknowledged by the designer (never heard as "distortion" per se).

I'd heard No Place to Fall through four different cartridges in four different rigs: Zorin Audio TP-S3 turntable, Zorin PUS-12 arm, Lyra Titan i cartridge; Music Hall MMF-11.1 turntable-arm with Goldring Elite cartridge; Continuum Caliburn turntable, Kuzma 4Point arm, and Lyra Etna; and Continuum Caliburn, Continuum Cobra arm, and Transfiguration Proteus. With all of those, Grace's voice had a bit of edge, but the air and sense of space were obvious; cymbals, snare, and brushes were naturally sharp and shimmering; and with the guitars, plenty of clean pick on string was audible.

Through the ViV Lab arm, the three-dimensional picture—though not the images themselves—were flattened, obscuring the front-to-back layering of images; the air evacuated the room; and the shimmer and overall transient "crack" and definition, were somewhat blunted. However, Grace's voice became 100% natural and convincing. What I'm fairly certain are recording artifacts were artfully carved away, leaving a relaxed, "cushiony" reproduction of Grace's voice.

Final conclusion
The first review sample's tonal presentation was generally similar to these two newer samples, but was far more closed down, obviously colored, and almost claustrophobic. The two correctly functioning samples produced a far better-balanced sound that I'm sure will appeal to some listeners—particularly those of the "vintage gear persuasion." As I wrote about my experience with the first sample of this tonearm, if you love to the exclusion of most everything else the romantic, vintage, midrangey sound that some people insist is "music," the ViV Laboratory Rigid Float is made for you.

Assuming the tonearm's sound is a result of its geometry and not its "floating" technology, are the other four arms producing additive sonic effects due to skating issues? My take is that the Rigid Float—either because of its underhung geometry, or its non-grounded bearing system, or both—has a singularly smooth, lush sound that some listeners will instantly crave. Those folks should drop a ViV Lab Rigid Float into their system ASAP and find out for themselves.