The RotaryLift is a high-quality VTA lift developed especially for the GrooveMaster tonearm. This lift has a number of special and unique features, such as a collet attachment for the GrooveMaster and the possibility of adjusting the VTA while playing. The materials are stainless steel and brass. Two materials that neutralise each other’s resonance. Together with the high mass of the lift, this ensures an improvement in the sound. The lift is mounted under the turntable by means of a heavy nut or through the screw holes, which are exactly made to Jelco measurements.
Daniel BETTIN –
Christian RIntelen –
works great and makes the GM II useable / adjustable on a EMT-930. attention; you do need to shave off some material underneath the EMT’s chassis to make space for the wide and heavy threaded counterweight. i have used the GM II on the EMT-930 with a modified jelco arm base, with a modified VTA-easy and with the GM base. the sound is clearly better with the RotaryLift base. it seems the GM II (like many or most arms) profits from a heavy, high mass mounting base that absorbs vibrations and resonances. flimsy aluminum bases are audibly inferior.
use a stethoscope on the turntable plinth and spin an LP w/o sound coming from your speakers. you will be absolutely flabberghasted by the sheer amount of music (!) you can hear with your stethoscope placed a/ on the turntable chassis b/ on the TT plinth c/ on the piece of furniture you placed your turntable. this energy comes from the stylus, travels through the arm, arm bearing, arm base, turntable, plinth etc etc. and nota bene, these are vibrations that work against the cartridge generator and smear the actual signal.
the connection between arm and turntable is very important in this aspect. ideally, the arm base would absorb all these vibrations instead of transmitting them to the turntable chassis and more. but this is not feasible with solid materials. all metals will transmit, all woods (even panzerholz) will transmit, all plastics will transmit. what changes are the frequencies that are filtered out and / or amplified. (remember, you’ll be listening to the un-EQ’d RIAA signal i.e. low frequencies are attenuated by up to 20 dB, high frequencies are up to 20 dB louder than a 1 khz signal. so don’t be fooled by thinking the arm base, plinth or whatnot attenuates low frequency vibrations and/or amplifies the highs…)
the RotaryLift passed the stethoscope test on my EMT-930 with the best result so far. on the EMT’s bakelite chassis i hear more or less the same un-EQ’d signal that the stylus digs out of the groove – but MUCH attenuated. the signal coming from my speakers is notably cleaner, more precise and seems to have better timing than with all other arm bases i have tried so far.
the acid test on my turntable is the second arm i have mounted on my 50 mm birch plywood plinth. if i place the stethoscope on the arm wand of this 12″ RMG-309i, i hear all the information that passes from the GM II through the plinth into the second arm. with the RotaryLift, there is almost NO signal audible on the 309. with the cheap Jelco base, i could follow the rhythm and the melody of the music played.
my verdict of the RotaryLift: fit and finish is perfect, the arm adjustability so smooth and precise that the cartridge will not skip if the VTA is adjusted during playback. add to this the sonic improvement i described above, and the prima vista high price of the RotaryLift becomes a bargain. HIGHLY recommended!