Being a uni-pivot, the RS-A1 uses a reverse missionary bearing: The upward-pointing spike is machined from tool steel and grounded to a point. The supplied counterweight hangs from a threaded brass fitting at the rear of the arm. By turning the thumbscrew, users can adjust the weight's position relative to the front of the arm, which is how you adjust the tracking force of the arm. Aha.On the base of the arm, you'll find a pair of RCA output jacks (there is no grounding post), a magnetic tonearm support, and that's about it. The base of the arm is fairly heavy, which proved to be a solid design choice, seeing as the arm can not be bolted to an armboard and just sits on the table's plinth.What makes the RS-A1 so unique and controversial is its use of a rotating headshell, whose range of movement is six degrees in either direction. The headshell is connected to the tonearm through the use of a needle bearing, and the rationale behind the design is that it provides a small amount of tracing error correction and that the "joint" offers relief from stresses imposed on the cantilever as it attempts to simultaneously trace two groove walls of varying thickness. The headshell, being somewhat independent of the rest of the arm, is also not affected by the mass of the arm. It all sounds rather complicated, but once you manage to set the arm up properly, it begins to make some sense.