Yes,
we like unipivot tonearms,
but not in its classic implementation.

We always were fascinated by the simplicity and purity of the unipivot bearing design. The classic unipivot tonearm can sound quite good but has some serious drawbacks. First of all, we never could get used to the handling of the wobbling arm wand. This makes every day use very unpleasant. A classic unipivot tonearm has also an unfavorable ratio of tonearm balance and bearing point. The center of gravity of the tonearm is much deeper than the bearing point and that leads to a high moment of inertia. Another, often overlooked point is the fact, that all the energy from the tonearm is derived at this tiny point into the tonearm base. The energy that a cartridge transfers into the armwand when playing an LP is enormous and the energy transfer at the bearing point is very critical. Beside that, the unipivot tonearm has the tendency for torsional movement when playing warped records.

Our first design, which achieved the solution of these weaknesses, is the Reference Tonearm, a completely customized design.
Strictly speaking, however, it is not a true unipivot tonearm, since there is a second bearing point, against which the arm is leaning. If you want to learn more about this, please read our whitepaper.

Our newly developed FCL Tonearm is a true unipivot design and overcomes all the problems of the classic unipivot tonearm.
The loading of the bearing by the use of a special designed magnet and a field coil, powered by a constant current source, eliminates bearing chatter and gives the tonearm a high torsional stability. The center of gravity and the bearing point are in the same plane, thus the tonearm is in neutral balance. The bearing point is 18mm below the headshell and is therefore at the height of the record.

Last but not least, the tone arm handling is comparable to ball bearing tonearms.