As The Abis brand name was changed to Sorane in 2017 summer, the products in this website/review are now called the Sorane tonearm series, with unchanged model number.
Fortunate encounter with IT Industry for Sorane (Abis)
Youtek feels, from the bottom of the heart, it was unquestionably fortunate fate to have encountered Katsuaki Ishiyama-san, founder of IT Industry, almost 10 years ago, to have him develop Sorane (Meaning Space Sound in Japanese language, “宙音” .) /Abis (Initially marketed brand name, changed to Sorane,2017/Spring.) tonearms, late 2013, only for Youtek worldwide sales (Only for overseas market and no sales in Japan is available) by affordably reasonable cost.

Sorane/ All handmade and hand assembled by craftsmen
Since company foundation in 1974, Katsuaki Ishiyama-san established and collected designing and development knowhow for various tonearms (And other analog equipment), manufactured by only handmade and assembled process, with his belief the fine tuning is only available by craftsmen’s precise and sensitive hand for variety of analog gears.

Even applying for modern technology of CNC milling machine at their own plant for basic parts production, their expertise are still there to rely on their craftsmen’s process, in particular, during assembling process for many parts to have idealized mechanical surface contact with each other, by hand-tuned and hand-adjusted.

Shared Features
(a)
Gimbal-bearing designs for excellent bass, dynamics and imaging, as well as unconditional azimuth stability (the biggest problem for unipivots).

(b)
Antiskating

( c)
Detachable headshells to allow quick changes of cartridges, the adoption of various mass headshells (to help change the effective mass of the arms and cartridges), and the ability to mount cartridges in a well lit area, in a safe and convenient manner.

(d)
Machine-tooled and hand-assembled by skilled Japanese craftsmen. This highly skilled and delicate hand-assembly differentiates Sorane/Abis tonearms from similar mass-produced Japanese tonearms. Standard quality high-volume tonearms are produced by die-casting and semi-automatic assembly line processes to keep production costs low.

( e)
Skilled hand assembly does not simply mean “combining the constituent parts by hand”. Skilled hand assembly involves measurement, adjustment and hand-fitting to produce optimal interface between machined surfaces. Once completed, the fitment between every part is ideal, satisfying the necessary conditions for vibration-free and noise-free reproduction of analog sound.

(f)
Most importantly, the key to tonearm quality is highly sensitive and delicate motion, for which the bearings are the determining factor.

(g)
Concerning the reproduced sound from these models: The designer is confident you will get precise and clean sound, which can only be had from hand-made tonearms, but at a very reasonable price with these arms.

(h)
In particular, the SA-1.2 will produce rich and tight bass, coming from the extremely rigid rectangular shaped arm-wand.

(i)
In SA-1.2, two sets of fine radial bearings are installed for both horizontal (set in the bearing stem column in this photo) and vertical (further small bearing at tonearm wand). This assures audiophiles of smooth tonearm function, greater longevity, better consistency, and enhanced ability to track warped vinyl.

(j)
The same type radial bearing used in the SA-1.2 for horizontal motion is also used for the TA-1 and TA-1L, while a delicate pivot bearing is employed for vertical movement (this is still a bearing but the bearing axis end is cone shaped, and requires careful assembly and adjustment). The right side cone in this photo is inserted into the miniature bearing inner race.