Reed 5A Tonearm

The 5A was the first tonearm in which Reed made a pivoted arm track tangentially. It was the demonstration — proved in a small workshop in Lithuania and refined since — that a particular geometric solution could deliver what the analog world had always pursued through air bearings and servo control: an arm that follows the groove the way the cutting head moved when the record was made.

A standard pivoted tonearm traces an arc, and the angle between the stylus and the groove walls changes with every millimeter of travel. The tracking error is small but it is constant, and it is the most persistent source of distortion in the analog signal chain. The 5A's geometry — a three-point linkage drawn from a classical theorem about right triangles inscribed in a circle — constrains the cartridge to a path within minutes of arc of a true tangent across the entire record. The maximum tracking error is roughly four minutes of angle. A conventional pivoted arm carries one or two degrees of error at the inner grooves where the music tends to live most densely. This is the difference one is paying to remove.

The consequences are what one would expect a more expensive arm to produce. No anti-skating force is needed, because there is no skating force to counter. The structure is compact enough to fit a turntable that was never designed with a tangential arm in mind. The horizontal and vertical pivots use sapphire and molybdenum-carbide thrust bearings — the kind chosen for low friction over a lifetime of operation rather than for marketing — and low-noise ceramic rolling bearings constrain the linkages around them. Vertical tracking angle adjusts to a precision of two-tenths of a millimeter; azimuth adjusts by eight degrees in either direction; the level of the arm itself is verified against an integrated indicator so the geometry is correct before the cartridge ever touches a record. The arm accepts Reed's own headshells or any cartridge mounted on a universal-bayonet headshell.

The 5A is configured at order time. Two body finishes are offered — seashell white or black, each hand-finished at the Reed workshop. The armwand is a single piece of solid hardwood, machined to length and damped by the wood itself; six wood options are offered, with effective mass ranging from roughly 8 to 16 grams. Wenge, teak in two shades, macassar ebony, and cocobolo are offered at the standard price; the denser panzerholz, which suits the heavier low-compliance cartridges, is available at a small additional cost. The wand is selected in consultation with the cartridge that will live on the arm; Alma will guide the choice as part of the order.

A Precise Azimuth Adjuster is available as a factory option for an additional $1,495. The adjuster lets the azimuth be tuned with the record playing, with the cartridge rotating around the needle tip rather than around the bearing — the only way to make this kind of change without lifting the stylus from the groove. Contact us to add the adjuster to a 5A order.

The 5A is built one at a time at the Reed workshop and shipped pre-balanced for the chosen wand. Setup at the customer's turntable, with the cartridge of the customer's choice, is part of the Alma delivery for any 5A sold in the showrooms' service area. Available at both Alma showrooms by appointment for private audition.