Has anyone had experience with the Schroeder Arm

Hi Frank

The arm is the latest Tri-planar to be mounted on a SME 30. I gave the machinist a Graham armboard to copy but without the large bore for the din to pass through. The SME armboard has a fibre type damping material but the Graham has lead for damping. I supplied the Brass and it should be done next week, but I need to damp it like one of the other armboards I have. The dude at the machine shop suggested a phenolic (spelling?) board to damp in between board and table. WHat do you think fibre or lead. I spoke with Wally Malewicz and he suggested the lead.
I am also wondering if you have any customers with the Ref on a SME 30, and you impressions. Is it an ideal setup?

Paul

I was not going to reply anymore to this thread because of all the DRAMA my original question stirred.Thank you, to all of you, for your well intentioned responses.Especially Frank.It is unuasual to see a designer and manufacturer respond.It shows the commitment and passion you must have for your product.Of course a tonearm will have a specific sonic signature,to me this is not debateable.Every component in the sonic chain has an identifiable sonic signature to one degree or another.I truly don't want to get into a debate with obviously well intentioned fellow music lovers,but I thought my original question could stand on it's own without having to outline what equipment I own,or discuss my musical tastes.To my way of thinking,the lack of any kind of bearing frictionand the attention to detail employed in you design giving me the choice of internal arm cable to match my system cabling,and the choice of different armtube materials,to match my cartridge (in this case a TRANSFIGURATION TEMPER-V)is just good science and attention to detail.One thing I have learned from my too many years in this hobby is(asside from the unfortunate fact that it is expensive)that the tiniest details stand out in BOLD relief when you finally have a good set up right.I would like to pose one more question to you Frank or any other listener with such experience.I notice there are a few arm cables on the market(arm to preamp)that offer such exotic combinations of materials that could potentially push the envelope in terms of better being able to transfer super fine detail.I'm talking specifically about such cables like those from PURIST audio and SILTECH which purport to use materials like silver and gold in conjunction with small amounts of copper or also,as in the case of the PURIST cables cryogenic treatment as well.I'm only interested here about the arm to preamp or phonostage cabling NOT the rest of the system,and please no infantile heated debates.Just for the record I heard a significant improvement in both my system and a friend's setup when we upgraded from the Graham IC-30 to IC-70,so I am curious to examine if more could be obtained from this particular area with an even more advanced material combination.Trust me I'm not looking to throw money away but I'm convinced that the very fine microsignal coming from the stylus tip is of paramount importance,which takes me back to my original question regarding the SCHROEDER arm and it's potential for a non resonant signature.If anyone thinks that is not a critical parameter go and listen to a really good straight line air bearing design.

sirspeedy
Doug and I have already answered your original question about the sound of the Schroeder(or lack thereof) in our posts. It is really significantly better than "the top pivoting competition" IMO. Take it for what its worth.

As to other tonearm cabling, this is never the issue with the Schroeder as there are no joints up to the phono stage, which has the least deleterious effect compared to having different cabling and carrying such low level signals.

Setup of the Schroeder is not difficult, but more importantly, it is repeatable and allows for very fine tuning. And as you correctly put it, when you finally have a good set up right, the tiniest details stand out, for the Schroeder probably not in BOLD relief, but in their natural palette.

Good luck in your search for musical truth.

Dear Sirspeedy: It is true that the material combination in a cable makes a difference, but is only one of the reasons for that differences: design, construction, geometry, are very important too.
There are many choices here, I suggest that you test the Silver Oval from Analysis Plus: exellent performer in differentes stages and " inexpensive ".
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

sirspeedy,

It might be viable to shortlist a few cables based on others' feedback and demo them on your 2.2 to find the one you prefer. The Graham's armtube wire will certainly have some effect, but you should still be able to hear the differences in an A/B. At least you'd be hearing each cable between your own cartridge and phono stage. How each wire behaves between cartridges and phono stages that differ from yours is likely to be quite variable.

Obviously Cmk and I agree with your supposition about the Schroeder Reference's non-resonant design, construction and materials. The aspect of the Ref that most sets it apart from other arms is that bearing. Presumably this is largely responsible for it's (lack of) sonic character.

Enjoy the music while you enjoy the hunt!