Connected-Fidelity CF-1010 tonearm

Compatibility

The 9in S-shaped CF-1010 retails for £3,495. It is supplied with a 2m arm cable and a free digital stylus force gauge and a carbon fibre brush. It certainly looks and feels like a high-quality item and has been designed to be very light, so it will work well with moving-magnet cartridges, which generally have far higher compliance than moving-coil cartridges. That said, it is also ideally suited to moving coils.

The secret of the arm’s compatibility with such a wide variety of cartridges is that it can be supplied with one of six counterweight weights and a variety of headshell shims to optimise the resonant frequency of the cartridge’s suspension system and its bass output. The aim is to tune it to 7 Hz or higher, to suit the cartridge specifications.

Connected-Fidelity makes this easy by offering customers a service it says is unique – whereby the customer tells them which cartridge they wish to use, and they will supply exactly the right counterweight and headshell shim combination to achieve the best performance. This service is free when you first buy the arm. Of course, such details will most likely be sorted for you by the retailer you buy the arm from.

Another key factor in achieving such wide cartridge compatibility is the CF-1010’s one-piece titanium arm tube, chosen for its very low resonance, high stiffness and low weight. The headshell is said to have a composite construction that shifts any resonances above the range of human hearing and dissipates unwanted vibrations within the cartridge body.

The bearings are made from hardened tool steel and are a pre-loaded point-contact design, adjusted to zero tolerance. They decided to avoid ball bearings, as Osborn says, at best these have a tolerance of 3-4 microns. In this way, he says, they have achieved just 50 mg of friction at the stylus. The arm pillar and base are also made from stainless steel, as are the counterbalance weights, which are decoupled to help dissipate unwanted resonances.

The main platform that houses the lift/lower device and arm rest is made from non-resonant, anodised aluminium and also has a useful additional threaded pin that protrudes downwards, so that you can adjust it to always give you the right height and cartridge VTA in the event that you have removed the arm from its base for any reason. Useful if, say, you’re upgrading from a Hana Umami Blue to an Umami Red.

The CF-1010’s internal wiring is UP-OCC (single-crystal) copper. The supplied arm-connection cable is also silver-plated OCC copper. An upgrade cable from Connected-Fidelity, using single-crystal OCC, is available for £600. However, the review sample was supplied with the standard cable.

Lock and load

To make my evaluation of the new CF-1010 arm as straightforward as possible, it was supplied to me already fitted to Connected-Fidelity’s version of the TT Hub turntable, which is designed to accommodate two pickup arms simultaneously. This made it easy for me to fit a second tonearm to the deck – one that I knew well and is priced around £1,000 below the CF-1010, so it would serve as a useful benchmark.

Each arm was fitted with a Hana Umami Red cartridge. I played this combination through my trusty Audio Note Meishu Tonmeister integrated amp, Fyne Audio Vintage 10 speakers with SuperTrax super-tweeters, and a REL S-550 subwoofer. The mains block and mains cables were from MusicWorks.

An album that is becoming a firm favourite of mine is Conversations by jazz bassist Christian McBride. From this, I played his wonderful cover of The Isley Brothers’ It’s Your Thing, where he duets with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. His superb bass playing was well conveyed by the CF-1010 – tight, agile, with great body, string resonances and slaps, while the vocals were open, full of character, expressive and exuberant, with all the sassiness that makes Dee Dee Bridgewater unique. Compared with the benchmark arm, the CF-1010 had tighter, fuller, and more articulate bass, and the vocals were cleaner and more nuanced.

Another album I have really got into big time is Stream by jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie. On the track ‘Sun Pillars’, the CF-1010 captured the syncopation, fluidity and movement of his playing, and David Bowden’s superb bass line sounded tighter and more agile. Stephen Henderson’s drumming is amazing, and the CF-1010 captured his delicate touch beautifully, with plenty of subtlety. By comparison, the benchmark arm sounded slower and more muffled on his piano and simply did not place the space around the individual musicians as the CF-1010 did. McCreadie’s piano was also better defined and more focused across all registers, from top to bottom. The track’s rhythmic impetus and ebb and flow were also captured more convincingly on the CF-1010.

And if you want strong rhythmic impetus, try the track ‘No One Emotion’, which kicks off side one of George Benson’s superb 20/20 album. The deep, relentless synth bass line that underpins this track is a key element, and there was no doubt it was stronger, deeper and tighter on the CF-1010. Benson’s vocals were also more open and real, while the keyboards, drum machine and other musicians’ contributions came across as more distinct and present, with more space around them. The CF-1010 simply allowed me to listen into each element of this complex, lush arrangement and enjoy their contribution to the whole. The benchmark arm blurred things together more and lost the rhythmic drive that fuels this uptempo track.

The last track I’d like to mention is ‘Hey Laura’ from the amazing vocalist/songwriter Gregory Porter’s Liquid Spirit album. On this track, I was blown away by how much better the CF-1010 sounded on his vocals. They were more expressive, open, full-bodied and rounded. The benchmark arm, by comparison, seemed to overemphasise the lower registers of his voice and lose some of the vibrato and emotion, just as it tended to make the bass line woollier and less distinct. It was also easier to follow the Hammond organ part on the CF-1010. The drums were tighter, and I could hear better what the pianist was playing and how – and somehow, I simply got a clearer impression of hammers striking strings on the CF-1010. The sax solo was also better defined, and again, there was just more space around all of the musicians and Porter himself. It was a difference that I would gladly pay the extra money for.

A no-brainer

I am sure there are many who think that a pickup arm won’t make as big a difference as you’d hear between cartridges, turntables, amplifiers or speakers. Well, let me dispel any such preconceptions and say that the differences I heard between the CF-1010 and my benchmark arm were every bit as real and significant.

The Connected-Fidelity CF-1010 is a class act. It is beautifully made and finished, and easy to use and set up. Its sound quality is excellent, offering real insight into the music by letting each musician do their thing without blurring them together or losing them in the mix. It also has a good sense of timing and rhythmic impetus, and will keep your foot tapping along to the music from start to finish, whatever that music may be.

I have nothing but praise for the CF-1010 and recommend it enthusiastically. I think it’s a no-brainer at the asking price. 

Technical specifications

• Type: S-shaped tonearm with fixed headshell
• Effective length: 229mm from bearing centre point to stylus tip
• Effective mass: 11.7g with standard counterweight
• Arm tube: One-piece titanium tube with composite fixed headshell
• Bearings: Hardened tool steel preloaded point contact bearing adjusted for zero microns tolerance
• Counterweights: Six different weights available
• Headshell weights: Choice of five from 3g to 15g
• Internal wiring: UP-OCC single-crystal copper with Pin Jack connector for consistent signal transfer
• Price: £3,495, €4,000, $4,600

Manufacturer

Connected-Fidelity (Air Audio)

+44(0)1491 629629

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