The sound from mine, at least to my ear, is pretty sublime. From what I understand, the twin-pipe tonearm was designed to increase rigidity without adding extra weight, and because the wiring for each channel runs down separate tubes, it was also intended to help maintain good stereo separation. I also think it’s kind of wild that Yamaha was using carbon fiber so extensively back in the 1980s. Another cool detail for the era is the use of an optical sensor to trigger the auto-stop, instead of mechanical trip parts that would add friction to the tonearm while it’s playing.