Schroder sq and the new talea

Dear Sebastian: +++++ " using the same Dynavector XV1S. Talea is better in everyway period. " +++++

IMHO that does not means that the Talea is better but only that the XV-1s is a better match with that tonearm than with the DaVinci one.

Halcro and Lewm point out too of this important match tonearm/cartridge subject.

A diferent cartridge could perform better in the Grandezza than in the Talea and not for this fact we can say for sure that the Grandezza is " better in everyway " than the Talea.

Tonearm and cartridge are not two audio items but one audio item with a extremely intimate relationship to brings togeter a quality performance level.

This example tell us a lot why is so dificult to find out/design a universal tonearm where any cartridge can shows at its best and not in other tonearm.

The tonearm/cartridge relationship and how the resonances in between take " action " to tame the overall quality performance of any tonearm/cartridge combination is very complex, hard to understand due that there is no scientific tests on the subject and hard to predict in our today status.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Well...I would never state that the Talea is unequivocally better for every turntable and cartridge combination. I can only comment on those systems I've actually HEARD.

More to the point, the only combination that matters to ME are the cartridges I use (or am likely to use in the foreseeable future) in my system.

As to the comparison between the Triplanar and Talea, in MY experience, on systems I've actually HEARD... Well let me preface by saying that the Triplanar is a terrific tonearm and I remain a very happy Triplanar owner. That said, the Talea plays in a different league and that for ME the Talea is well worth the price differential.

I can not make a judgment for anyone else, but unreservedly recommend auditioning both (among others) if you are assembling a high quality analog system.

Dertonarm,
I understand your arm design will be on the market in about a year. Do you care to tell us here on Audiogon anything about it?

Raul,
What is happening with your tone arm design? Is it as you say a "universal" type design? When will it be on the market?

I demoed the Talea at a friend's house with the A90 on a Teres table. I much preferred it to his Kuzma airline arm during a four hour listening session. It seemed to recover more information from the record grooves or tracked the LP better, or damped the resonances better, I'm not really sure. I am certain, however, that I enjoyed the music much more and it sounded more real to me. It was also easily adjustable and seemed to be well made.

I gather from this forum that each of you is familiar with the Schroder arm, but has either of you ever heard the Talea? If you have, what are your impressions?

The Talea uses a counterweight system similar to the Triplanar- three weights (the last of which is threaded and very small for exacting adjustment).

I point this out because it is possible to have either arm set up in a way that does not favor the cartridge installed. This weight system allows you to adjust the effective mass of the system which is not possible with a single counterbalance weight.

So if the tracking weight is right, but the effective mass is not, the cartridge will not show its best! This is how you can get really divergent results using the same arm and cartridge. My own experience suggests that if the effective mass is also optimized, one will hear far less differences with the cartridges.

Halcro, Raul: I am fully agreed that synergy is very important to get the optimum result. I wish I have the ZYX with the DaVinci.

I have spent many hours with the DaVinci using with different kind of cart, more than the Talea. I think I have grown to know its basic characteristic and it is so easy for me to decide which tonearm that I want to live with or without.