Spin Doctor

The result is what's known as an underhung arm, where the stylus plays the record in an arc that doesn't reach the record's center. Instead of two null points, an underhung arm can only have one, with tracking angle error that increases to its sides. ViV places the null point about two-thirds of the way into the record, 90mm from the spindle. This design choice biases the tracking angle error so it's greatest at the start of the side, where the linear speed is highest, and the groove modulations are more spread out. In return, you get more accurate tracking at the much tougher-to-play inner grooves. The maximum tracking angle error is about 10° at the start of the side compared to about 2° with a typical 9" overhung tonearm. While that may look bad on paper, how bad is it when you're playing a record?

If the ViV tonearm's pure straight approach was the only thing that sets it apart from more conventional designs, that by itself would make it a pretty radical design, but the Rigid Float's uniqueness runs much deeper. The name—"Rigid Float"—describes the arm's bearing. ViV Labs is kind of secretive about how it's built. My understanding is that there is a ball on the moving part of the arm that sits in a cup-shaped magnet. Between them is a layer of magnetic oil called ferrofluid, which levitates the ball slightly while centering it magnetically. So in some ways it is similar to a unipivot. With the thick layer of oil acting as an interface, the bearing's friction is vanishingly low, moving smoothly and freely with the slightest touch. The oil also acts as a vibration damper, tamping down energy transferred from the cartridge through the armtube.

Speaking of armtubes, the Rigid Float is available in two versions. The 9" HA-9 ($4500 as reviewed) has an aluminum armtube. The CB-9 with a carbon armtube costs an extra $2000. The HA and CB arms are also available in 7" and 13" versions. Seven inches would be extremely short for a pivoted design, but it matters less for a pure straight arm. The 7" version has a spindle-to-pivot distance of 227mm, which is close to that of a typical 9" arm, while the HA-9 sits at 274mm, more like a normal 12" arm. This means that the 7" version will fit on most turntables designed for a 9" arm, while the 9" and 13" arms require more space.

Note that I never used the word "mount" in describing the ViV Rigid Float. That's because you don't actually mount these arms to the turntable; they just sit there on their own base, either on the plinth or off to the side. At more than 4lb, the Rigid Float is a true heavyweight; it will stay wherever you put it. That weight means, however, that it won't work well on top of the plinth of a softly suspended turntable like a Linn LP12. Furthermore, the surface the arm is placed on needs to be between about 2" and 2.5" below the platter surface in order for the arm height to be within a usable range for VTA adjustment. On many turntables—probably most—the height difference between the surface of the plinth and the platter is smaller than that. There's a solution to both of these problems: a height-adjustable platform offered by Sierra Sound, ViV's US importer, called the NAB-1. The NAB-1 allows a Rigid Float arm of appropriate length to be placed off-plinth at an appropriate height.

I used the HA-9 arm with my Brinkmann La Grange turntable. I started off by placing the arm directly on the turntable's round arm pod. After adjusting the null point correctly, the Rigid Float's base was uncomfortably close to the edge, so I pressed the NAB-1 platform into service, sitting it directly on the Zoethecus Z-Slab that supports the Brinkmann and using its longest adjustable spikes to raise the arm to the appropriate height.

Accurate leveling is critical with the Rigid Float; it has a very sensitive level built into the top of the arm, which makes dialing it in with the three spikes supporting the NAB-1 quite easy.

The Rigid Float uses the popular "SME-type" H-4 headshell connector. However, the ViV "Nelson Hold" headshell that comes with the arm is far from conventional. Instead of having a large, flat cartridge mounting area, the Nelson Hold has a long, fingerlike backbone onto which a cartridge mounting bracket is attached. This backbone extends beyond the cartridge position to form a finger lift for manual record cueing. In the center of the bracket is a knurled knob ViV calls the press screw, which can be tightened down to apply pressure to the top of the cartridge immediately above its generator. By adjusting the tightness of the press screw, you can fine-tune the resonant behavior of the cartridge body.

The press screw is one of several tweaky fine-tuning features of the arm. A pair of elastomer damping rings fitted around the armtube provide another opportunity for tuning; they can be moved along the arm's length to apply vibration damping in specific areas of the tube. The armtube can also be rotated on its own axis to adjust the cartridge for azimuth. In a straight arm, in contrast to an armtube with an offset headshell, rotating the armtube will not cause a change in the stylus rake angle.

I auditioned the Rigid Float using a wide range of cartridges including a Benz Micro LP-S, a Shure V-15 Type V MR, a Lyra Atlas λ Lambda—even a vintage Ortofon SPU. The Lyra seemed especially appropriate considering that designer Jonathan Carr's comments were the original incentive for this review.

When I set up cartridges for my clients, I take great care to align them for the lowest possible distortion, so I really didn't know what to expect as I lowered the Atlas to play "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" from the Grace Jones album Nightclubbing (Island ILPS 9624). Would there be obvious distortion and mistracking? Would the Lyra's sharp-edged line-contact stylus carve slivers of vinyl from the grooves? Happily, the answer to both of those questions is an emphatic no! Instead, I heard clear, dynamic sound, with excellent, detailed bass and a well-focused soundstage. Grace's vocals stood forward, in clear relief from the band, while Robbie Shakespeare's bass bounced along cleanly with plenty of power and extension. Uziah Thompson's clackity-clack percussion line had excellent definition and bite.

After the arm passed the Grace Jones test, I went out of my way to find the arm's Achilles' heel, playing some of my favorite torture tracks for tracking, such as Montserrat Caballé singing Verdi's Aida (EMI Electrola 1C 195-02 548/50), and Rondo Lapponico (Proprius PROP 7797), a recording of an unaccompanied Swedish choir. Neither Caballé nor the Swedes could evoke any kind of cartridge misbehavior. I eventually heard some obvious coarseness and mistracking when I played "Blue Bayou" from Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams (Asylum 6E 104), when Linda started to belt out the line "I'm going back some day, come what may to Blue Bayou." This track is a challenge for any cartridge and arm, and as the first song on side 2 of the album, it sits right where the tracking angle error on the ViV is at its most egregious. I don't consider that a fail.

Once I stopped searching for problems and just played some records, the strengths of the Rigid Float became much clearer. Dynamics and what the late Hiroyasu Kondo of Audio Note Japan would describe as "non-mechanical sound" are what the Rigid Float revels in. This is best heard using relatively simple recordings like Hugh Lawson's Colour (Soul Note SN 1052), a jazz-trio record. On "The Tinkler," Lawson's piano has a wonderfully natural attack and a rich sense of harmonic color (colour?) that highlight Lawson's fine touch. The sound of Calvin Hill's bass was equally impressive, with plenty of grunt when he dipped into his lower register. Each note remained precise and tuneful.

The ViV Rigid Float tonearm is one of the most unusual tonearm designs I've encountered, violating many rules of tonearm design that I had long assumed were sacrosanct. It makes a compelling argument for its alternative approach, and it has some practical advantages not found on other arms. These include the ability to switch between cartridges easily and to quickly add or remove it from a turntable with no need for physical mounting.

The ViV Rigid Float is a tinkerer's delight that presents music in a wonderfully natural, unfussy way.