Another “How to choose an arm” question

@holmz , Frank Schroder and Peter Ledermann have been friends for a long time. Peter's demonstration rig has a Schroder Reference Arm on it and there must have been 4 or 5 other Schroder arms hanging around when I was there. 

I am not sure about a transformer with Soundsmith cartridges but you certainly do no have enough gain for a Sussurro. But, what you do have enough gain for is The Voice which is nothing more than a high output Sussurro. Same stylus, same cantilever same drive mechanism. The only difference is the coils have more windings and the compliance is set higher which is the problem for you. At 22 um/mN it might be too soft for your arm. It works perfectly in the Schroder CB. Using the Certal plate I get a horizontal resonance frequency right at 8 Hz. 

With a larger arm like that you really need a Phono stage suitable for low output cartridges. There are several really good high output cartridges out there but the majority of them are mid to high compliance. I think the Nagaoka MP 500 has a lower compliance but I am not sure. You have any number of directions you can head in. I am not a big transformer fan. I do not like more contacts and interconnects in the way of the very low signal from the cartridge. I think if you want to go with a low output cartridge you should upgrade your phono stage. If you want to go high level you will benefit from a lighter arm. @rauliruegas seems to know more about your arm than I do and he might be able to add more advice. 

Mijo, Have you listened to both The Voice and a Sussuro, in your home system or anywhere? I would be curious about a comparison, because I may want to add to my collection of MI cartridges, and I don't own a Soundsmith.  If you think the Sussuro has nothing more to offer in terms of SQ except for a lower output V, that would be good to know.  Since it's the iron that moves, I would think that more or fewer coils doesn't make much difference in MI types.

Dear @mijostyn  : Yes, you are rigth but when you can't mount a second tonearm in the same TT then the arm pod is an alternative.

I can tell you that I had a long first hand experiences with external arm pods when I was using my Denon's in naked fashion and maybe I was not aware of a detectable kind of distortions with, but this is me.

Now, as we can always we have to take the orthodox road with TT/tonearm mount.

R.

Dear @mijostyn  : SAEC tonearms are in the high mass range but the real problems are that's an undamped design and the knife bearing .

We can think that knife tonearm bearing is almost frictionless and a dream for that job but it's not and it's not not because I say it but truly experts as Dr. Sao Win puts a warning against knife bearings with his cartridge designs ( I owned his cartridge LOMC. ) and in indirect way SME did it too. Remember the old 3012? well came with vertical knife bearing and fortunatelly when SME ( that knows everything you can imagine on tonearms/TTs. ) was designed the V they just disappeared that knife bearing for very good reasons between those reasons is that at microscopic levels the knife tend to rattle.

holmz likes the 317 so is up to him at the end is him who needs to be satisfied not you or me.

R.

Many years past I went through the motions of purchasing a new Tonearm.

As for all the experiences I encountered in demonstration rooms the TT's in use were always belt driven.

At some events I attended there were a broader range of TT's in use using the Tonearms had shortlisted.

Off which a SME IV and V were both candidates.

I was fortunate on one occasion at an event to be able to receive a demonstration of the SME V and IV used on two of the same decks.

I can't recollect if the Cart's were matching, and I am not even sure if I would have considered this as important at this stage on my interest in HiFi, too many years have passed now to even think about the smaller details.

The decision I made was because of the impressions made on this system and the choice I made was to purchase the SME IV Tonearm.

I still own this Tonearm today and a Tonearm I purchased at a later period being the Audiomods Series Five Micrometre.

These two Tonearms have been compared in my system on a PTP Solid Nine and each are very similar and each does not excel in front of the other in perceived performance or in how a music replay is able to be engaged with and enjoyed.

The SME IV has been loaned on a few occasions and the most recent loan was to a friend who was comparing it to other Tonearms, as they were looking to make a Tonearm purchase.

The SME IV on this occasion did not win their favour as a purchase item, even though they said it was not too far behind a few of the other Brands in the line up being demonstrated.

I no longer use the IV or the Series Five micrometre, I have a Tonearm in use that has surpassed both of these as a performer and comfortably wins my favour for how the music is engaged with during a replay.  

  Audio Seri