2. analog
  3. 1278338549

Schroeder Reference Arm

Hi Folks:

The great Peter Lederman of Soundsmith uses this arm on his VPI HRX Turntable.

What was surprising about Peter's rig is that as much as I respect and like the HRX, I always find it's sound slightly clinical; however the addition of the Schroeder arm made the table sound slightly richer and less clinical while blowing my mind with it's dynamics and accuracy. Has anyone else noticed or tried this? I am experienced enough in this hobby to understand that the tonearm and cartridge provide voicing for the system but a tonearm swap on a turntable of this quality surprised me with the overall change it made. It goes without saying that I think the JMW tonearm series made by VPI are excellent.

Best:

D.H.
danhirsh
berlinta
104 posts
 
Hi guys,
Sorry for the long pauses between replies. THANKS to Mike, I'll be at the RMAF from Thursday around noon, so I'm sure there'll be enough time to get reasonably close to what can be achieved under show conditions.
I favor a two cart session, the A90 first, then whatever favorite Joel and myself pull out of our hats.
And we're all in the same league when it comes to cartridge evaluations :-)
Thom, no problem about the incorrect quote. What's important is that every little detail makes a difference(as long as your system can resolve it). Whether a particular difference means anything to you(is worth tons of money) is another question...

Cheers,

Frank
tbg
5,263 posts
 
How I wish I had not forgotten to attend this comparison.

Please someone tell us your impressions.
lewm
13,220 posts
 
You can find reports on the thread about the RMAF 2010. I was sitting in the back row, or rather, standing. All seats in front of me were occupied, and there were people also standing along both sides of the small-ish room. Speakers were Daedalus. Amps were Atma-sphere M60s. It was impossible, really, to compare the two tonearms (Schroeder Ref vs Talea), because two different phono stages AND two different cartridges were used. The Schroeder was playing into a new Artemis LCR phono stage and thence into the linestage of an Atma-sphere MP1. The Talea was playing into the Atma-sphere phono section. I believe that a Dynavector DV1S was riding in the Talea, and that a Sussuro (by SoundSmith) was riding in the Schroeder, but I could be wrong about the Talea. From where I sat, I very slightly preferred the Schroeder circuit (cartridge, tonearm, phono stage) because it was a bit more dynamic and "wet", which suits my own taste. OTOH, I could not fault the Talea in any way, and it certainly is a thing of beauty and precision. I did not care for any of the musical selections (which tended to the esoteric), so that did not help. Eventually, that is what drove me out of the room. Others who were in a better position to hear nuances either agreed or disagreed with my assessment, but as I implied above, I think it was more a comparison of cartridges and phono stages than of tonearms. Anyway, it was fun to see so much vinyl power in one room (Lederman, Schroeder, Durand, Mackris, etc, etc), all nice guys.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Lewm, thanks. This was consistent with what I overheard at breakfast the next day.
More to discover