Schroeder Reference Arm

IME you can have 2 identical cartridges in 2 identical tonearms with all parameters being the same. The chance of the sound being the same is very slight. Depending on the break in period, amount of warm up etc the exact same cartridge will sound slightly different.

Dear Joel: Yes I understand what you mean and about the tonearm voicing.
I along my friend Guillermo are for the last three years in a self tonearm " universal " design an think I understand every single " subject " about.

Anyway I don't want to go " inside " no more in your tonearm design or Frank's one. We can agree overall but I know each one of us have some very particular " ideas ".

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Petng,
I too would love to know more about the Kuzma top pivoted tonearms and how it fits in with Triplanar, Graham, Talea, Schroeder, Reed, SME. I can't even find a good photo of either. The 4-point is the top of the pivoted line, is it not?

Here is a Kuzma 4point review in PDF from Hi-Fi Plus. Excellent pictures. It's an ingenious design with with 2 points for the vertical bearing, another 2 points for horizontal bearing. Fluid damping for both directions. Extremely small contact area (like a unipivot) and very stable (unlike a unipivot) and long armtube (smaller tracking error) with standard mounting distance (easy installation). And pivot point at record level (good for warped records). Pretty neat, I say!

Never heard the sound but would love to hear it.

____

After e-mailing Frank, and then talking with Joel, I’ve come to the conclusion that we're not going to agree on a single cartridge for both arms, and frankly (pun intended) I think this is how it should be.

I would argue to let each designer "dance with the one who brung you" (as in choosing their own cartridge). If there's time (which I doubt), we can do a reverso swap, for a total of 4 setups.

If you think about it, 4 setups in 3 hours means a total time of 45 minutes per cartridge, including mounting and setup. That's not a whole lot of time. With the Stelvio II being in dual arm mode, once the two arms were set up, all we'd be doing would be plugging and unplugging arm cables, and perhaps changing cartridge loading.

Note that Joel and Frank have just begun their dialog, so I may be wrong about this, but I have proposed to them that they each pick a cartridge they like, and be done with trying to do the impossible, which is to attempt a controlled experiment.

Read this forum long enough (especially Raul's posts), and you'll find magical synergies in certain arm/cartridge combinations.

Now, both the Schroeder and Talea bring out the best in a wide range of cartridges, and in this regard, they are very flexible – a Talea won’t sound bad with a cartridge Frank chooses, and the same applies to a Schroeder with a cartridge that Joel chooses.

I think it would be misguided however to try to settle on a single cartridge, because it would enforce the mentality of a shoot-out, and you know how misguided I think such an approach is. We would be lending credibility to such an approach.

This is about having a fun evening, meeting some great individuals, and walking away with the understanding that we have listened to two amazing tonearms which are more alike than they are different. I am honored to be chosen for these festivities, and rest assured, that the Stelvio II will be up to the task.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier