Basis Super Arm 9

@dover , You bet I have! I live right around the corner from Basis. I have been there on several occasions and almost bought one of their turntables. My best friend has a Basis Debut with a Graham arm and was thinking of getting the Superarm 9. Has not made up his mind yet because he is having trouble with the cost to benefit ratio. The Basis is certainly a better arm than his Graham. The Vector is also better. So you can go ....... My opinion holds. Not only is it not worth the cost but the Schroder CB is a better arm at a much better price.

 I am sorry that you are unable to make intelligent evaluations on the design of tonearms but you do not have to take it out on others that can. Tonearms are not magic. They have to obey certain laws to function properly. These are well known and open to anyone who cares to study them.

Not only is it not worth the cost but the Schroder CB is a better arm at a much better price.

So what turntable and cartridge was used when you heard a comparision of the Schroeder CB and the Basis Superarm.
What differences did you hear.

@dover, the Superarm 9 was on what I think was a 2802 with a Vector on the other position. They both had a My Sonic Labs cartridge but I'm not sure which models. They may have been the same cartridge. I could not hear a difference beyond a slight difference in gain. As for the comparison with a Schroder CB, I have not had them in the same room together on the same system with the same cartridge so I can not say if there is a sonic difference or not. The Schroder is a better arm by design. Frank Schroder may be the preeminent tonearm designer a this moment. I have already highlighted the differences between the Superarm 9 and the CB which is not even Schroder's best tonearm. Mark Dohmann demonstrates the Helix with a CB. Peter Ledermann is having Schroder design an arm specifically for Soundsmith. Then if you consider that the Superarm 9 costs $17 large and the CB $5000 then there is no contest. An arm is no good if very few of us can afford it. I had several discussions with AJ and I would bet if he were still alive he would tell me to get the Vector 4, the Superarm being a waste of money. He was up there with Peter Ledermann as a great guy and good friends with David Fletcher (founder of SOTA and Sumiko) The Debut was indeed a fancy expensive version of David's design a design that SME eventually copied. I actually prefer the Debut to Basis's current line. It's suspension is inherently more stable but it is more expensive and difficult to make. AJ probably rolled over in his grave when they changed the design.

As always thanks for the feedback.  It has been my experience that "jaw dropping" improvement does not happen at this level but is more toward marginal/incremental......and even this level of improvement usually costs quite a bit.  I've only had my rig for 4 months and the Umami Red only has 44 hours on it so logically I should chill and get to know it a little better but I know I won't.  I also believe that the super arm would be optimized for a Basis table so a different manufacturers arm would not be "plan A."  Jperry thanks for the link btw.  Talking with Basis directly the super arm provides an increase in detail including bass definition over the Vector 4.  Ultimately it'll come down to if I'm willing to pay for the improvement!  I appreciate the people who take the time to share their opinions.  Although my research may not have been all encompassing, I feel real good about the Basis table as well as potentially upgrading to the Super arm, as I did not uncover any negative feedback about the product, company, or service!