Schroeder Model 2 for Technics + Ortofon 2M Black

Hello CMK,
I hoped you were watching!

Your hands-on experience with the carbon fibre Model 2 echo my gut feelings regarding the wood option. You can coat it, soak it, sand it and compress it (whatever), but I feel wood is somehow going to colour sound in the audio chain. The taughtness of the carbon fibre, as you have surmised, give it speed and enunciation. Qualities, I would guess, that are missing in the wood option.

I wonder what the designer didn't like about ceramic? Is his preference for wood motivated by its non-interaction with the magnets? One can only speculate.

You are running the arm with a low complience MC cartridge. I wonder how it would fly with my Ortofon 2M Black MM high compliance cartridge....

You actually have missed a step in my tonearm procurement program. I assemble the funds, then I look for one to buy. That's the wonder of the 'net. I can research my options throughly in the mean time.

You have quite an exotic set-up there. I guess that you thought and hard about the components and their interaction. Thanks for the input- very valuable indeed.

I have the Schroeder Model 2 running with Shelter 501 MkII. This is the best arm I had (I used to have all Kuzma models besides the Airline)...Sure a Graham or Hadcock might have a different presentation of the music but I believe that they won't be better. The Schroeder has a unique freedom of mechanical "after taste" to the sound...and just sounds more natural than any other arms I tried.

The Schroeder needs a lot of care to balance all parameters therefore a Graham is much more comftable. The effective weight depends on the choice of arm tube material (carbon, wood...) and also the choice of headshell-plate (aluminum, brass...). Therefore Mr. Schröder can fit the arm perfectly to your needs.

Mine has the carbon tube with brass plate and is around 14g, wich is more on the heavy side of "middle weight"...perfect for "stiffer" carts like the Shelter or my Koetsu rosewood.

Hello Xronx (from the Bronx?)
More valuable input- thanks! I notice that you too have opted for the carbon fibre. Your observations say that the Schroeder Model 2 gets out of the way of the music and reproduces what is on the recording- without (much?) colouration. Just the ticket.

How well does the thing track? For example, how would it go playing a 12" single that is spinning at 45rpm, mastered at high levels, with a slight warp AND pressed slightly off centre?

Hmmm...I never had problems with mistracking even of 45rpm 7" and 12". From touching the arm it feels a little more stable than a traditional unipivot. So therefore I was expecting a rather lightweighted sound BUT I was almost shocked at how fundamental tight and solid the sound was when I was playing it the first time.

So from my experience there is no worrying about any mistracking problems due to its construction.

So since no component is 100% neutral I only can say that acoustic instruments sound more like real instruments than with any other arm I tried. Especially the fine dynamics are just so natural.

You can call Mr. Schröder, he will give you advice on choosing the right material for your taste. BUT as you might know the waiting time for a Schröder is 1 year at the moment.

Thanks Xronx- yes, unipivots can be unstable and it was good to read your comments regarding the Schroeder's ability in that area.

Another thing is the tonearm's magnets and their suitability on a Technics turntable that has a direct-drive motor with many (?) more magnets. Do any of you feel there could be a problem with the motor interfering with the arm? (ie as the motor spins, would it generate a magnetic 'flux' that could throw the Schroeder right off it's game?)