The Well Tempered Arm

Bill Firebaugh started designing the Well Tempered Arm during the mid 1980's in his spare time. Bill was a key member of the Ford Aerospace think tank, so finding unique solutions to complicated problems was nothing new to him.

Poul Ladegaard wrote in a paper for Bruel and Kjaer that the ideal tonearm would be low mass with a high damping factor. Bill's early experiments indicated that low mass arms with rigid, metal-to-metal bearings have insufficient damping and that they chatter between 20 and 40hz.

He realized that the only way to completely eliminate the chatter in the bearing was to eliminate the bearing! His solution was the result of some very straightforward, form follows function engineering. Bill supported the tonearm tube on a disc suspended in viscous silicone fluid by two pieces of monofilament. The resulting damping of this unique configuration controls the excursion of the stylus within the record groove.

Arm Closeup

Because of the way the two monofilaments are connected from the damping paddle to the arm base, the anti-skating increases proportionately as the arm moves toward the center of the record.

The tonearm is made of aluminum or carbon fiber (depending on which model you choose) and is filled with very fine sand for damping. This combination is extremely rigid, light, and resonance free.

The Well Tempered Arm bearing and sand filled arm tube are patented by the Well Tempered Lab.



The Well Tempered Turntable

Bill Firebaugh's objective was to design a turntable that would provide a previously unheard of degree of stability for a cartridge stylus when combined with the Well Tempered Arm. The most challenging part of the design was the turntable bearing. Like a metal-to-metal tonearm bearing, metal-to-metal turntable bearings result in chatter and this chatter imposes itself on the music in the form of speed inconsistency (wow and flutter).

Bill overcame these long-standing problems of turntable design by creating the first zero-clearance bearing. Five teflon contacts support a precision-polished spindle in his patented design (see diagram below). A light weight silicone fluid constantly lubricates the five points of the spindle. The drive belt tension around the platter holds the spindle against the teflon contacts and stabilizes the platter. The Well Tempered Turntable bearing is therefore the quietest, most stable, and speed constant turntable bearing available.

SIDE VIEW
Note that the bottom bearing is off-center, both to keep the spindle balanced up against the inside/outside bearings and to keep a fresh supply of lubricant sweeping across it at all times. 		TOP VIEW
Bill Firebaugh's "Four Point Bearing" supports the spindle from only four points on the sides, creating (in effect) a round peg in a square hole. This avoids the usual problem of the spindle "crawling" along the edge of the hole.

The platter essentially becomes a part of the record due to its slightly sloped surface and the screw down record clamp that comes with the turntable. Resonances are dissipated through the thick acrylic disk. An internally damped version of the platter reduces resonances even further.

The turntable base is made of multiple layers of extremely dense material which sandwich a sound absorptive material in a constrained layer damping system. Hollow rubber feet were specifically designed to dissipate resonances.

The Well Tempered Turntable motor is isolated from the turntable except for the polyurethane belt which stretches from the motor pulley around the turntable platter. Motor vibration is quelled by a heavy lead brick mounted on its own set of rubber feet. The motor spindle turns on a teflon thrust bearing plate and the motor is packed with molybdenum grease which will not break down over time. The motor is so quiet that putting an ear next to it is the only way to hear it. The teflon thrust bearing and lubrication in the motor also minimize cogging. All Well Tempered motors include power conditioning in a separate module in the power cord.

Bill Firebaugh also worked extensively with his belt manufacturer. It took months to arrive at just the right proportion of polyurethane and curing agents to create a belt that had uniform elasticity. The polyurethane and curing agent are mixed in a high-speed centrifuge and precision cut. Even after all this painstaking effort, many belts are rejected because they do not meet the Well Tempered Lab's unprecendended standards for wow and flutter measurements.

Uncompromising performance criteria and unique and straightforward design principles have resulted in reasonably priced turntables and tonearms that compare favorably with the most expensive devices. For the music lover who possesses or is building a cherished record collection, Well Tempered Turntables are a dream come true.