GrooveMaster III Tonearm

Description

We are pleased to stock the third generation of GrooveMaster III tonearms, hand made in the Netherlands by Audio Creative, and all hand built to order, with delivery usually around 3 weeks from oredring. All GrooveMaster III tonearms feature a bead blasted titanium arm tube, pure silver internal wiring, hybrid ceramic bearings, the latest threaded counterweight assembly for easier setting of VTF, and a really clever new headshell connector that allows users to fit cartridges with SME or EMT bayonets, simply by rotating the connector by 45 degrees.  Actually, that headshell connector is unusually secure and second only to Glanz in that respect.

New for 2026 is the improved anti-skate control from the GrooveMaster 4, and the previous s-shape arm tube option has been replaced with an elegant j-shape.  The packaing has also been much improved.  In all other respects, the actual arm and structures are unchanged from previous GrooveMaster 3 arms.

Mounting options include the GrooveMaster Stainless Collar, Stainless Sliding Mount (SME pattern) and the Rotary VTA Lift which allows VTA to ve adjusted on the fly.  The 214mm (Jelco geometry) 9″ arm is made uniquely for Ammonite Audio and is available only with s-shape arm tube; the 9″ 229mm version is available with either curved ‘banana shape’ or s-shaped arm tube, but for 9″ arms we do favour s-shape.  10″ and 12″ variants can be ordered with s-shape tubes, but actually banana shape is better with these longer arms so we don’t routinely offer the 10″/12″ s-shaped arm tube shape option.

The tonearm effective length depends on the mounting option of your turntable.  With a fixed pivot to spindle distance check your record player configuration and mounting options. Best is to choose the tonearm with the longest pivot to spindle distance and lowest offset angle. Users seeking a direct drop-in replacement for a Jelco tonearm should go for these length and P2S (pivot to spindle distance) variants:

• 9″, 214mm P2S
• 10″, 240mm P2S
• 12″, 290mm P2S

All GrooveMaster III variants work well with Audio Creative’s new stainless steel SME style sliding base, but for the 9″ tonearm, we would recommend the 9″ 229mm P2S version.  For tonearm specification see below.

For really smooth and easy adjustment of arm height, Audio Creative’s new Rotary VTA Lift allows VTA to be adjusted while playing a record.  This is a relatively expensive option, but the design and machining is quite superb.  Furthermore, the high mass of this VTA base does seem to add ‘substance and weight’ to the arm’s sound character.  Definitely a recommended upgrade, but if you have a suspended turntable do check the tonearm weight limits.  Also, the VTA base is around 10mm taller in its lowest position than the Jelco pattern collar, so it won’t go down quite as far – in practice this is a consideration with turntables having a very low profile platter (eg Technics SL-1200) but most turntables have plenty of height differential between platter and armboard so there is no concern.  Please ask us if you are unsure and need help.

What We Think

GrooveMaster arms are fairly high mass (depending on headshell weight) as shown in the table below, so that in practice restricts them to low/medium-low compliance cartridges, typically moving coil designs, so don’t think that something really softly sprung like a Shure V15 will work – it won’t!  That said, matching cartridge compliance to tonearm mass is not as simple as running some numbers through a calculator, and we find that cartridges with real-world compliance (at 10Hz) up to 14cu are fine.  So, that includes Phasemations and most certainly Koetsu, Ortofon SPU etc.

So, how do GrooveMasters sound?  Well, they have a lovely organic, deep and expressive sound character that’s noticeably less ‘shut in’ than many other arms, even at this price point.  Furthermore, with ‘energetic’ cartridges like SPUs that throw a good deal of acoustic energy back into the arm structure, the GrooveMaster deals with this in a totally unflustered way; in contrast more lightly built arms can reflect this energy back to the cartridge and musical timing is disrupted.  All of which adds up to a lovely natural (analogue) sound character with great handling of spacial and temporal information – these are essential to replay of music and these arms are consummately ‘musical’.  On top of that, the GrooveMaster III improvements mean easier setup and adjustment.  Next to the Glanz S-Series, there’s not much available to trouble a GrooveMaster, so you do have to pay a big premium to find genuine sound quality improvements.

Package Contents:
GrooveMaster III tonearm,
Adjustable threaded counterweight for cartridges up to 40 grams
Set of Hex keys
Manual and adjustment template (Baerwald).

Options:
Stainless Steel SME Sliding Base 
Rotary VTA Adjuster Base

Specifications: