Has anyone had experience with the Schroeder Arm

Dear Frank: For anyone always is a privilege to be in touch with an audio designer like you and Chris.
" the principal speaks to his pupils ": the music sound reproduction in home audio systems is a very complex and seriously issue: first you have to know about live music, let me explain: you have to know which is the sound of a
volin and their differences with a viola ( for example ), which kind of signature has a Stradivarius and which one is for a Guarneri or an Amati ( for example ), you have to identifed the sound of a Steinway piano from a Yamaha one ( for example ), to know the sound of the metals and wooden winds instruments in an orchestra. How it sound in differents stages, how you percieve those sounds at different distances and in different stages. You have to know and identified the Tenor sound from: Coltrane, Rollins or Hawkins ( example ). Flannagan from Evans. Blaton from Brown. The Cure from U2. Bach from Mozart. Marhia Carey from Shanhia . etc..........
Second: understand why the live music transmit to you so many emotions: sadness, joy, tears, laughs, stress,etc....

Third: you have to have a full range audio system at home ( 16hz to 50khz ).
Fourth: Understand all the advantages and disadvantages of your own audio system: their strong points and their tweak points.
Fifth: have the maturity for listen to the music not our system.
Sixth: to have a frame of reference and understand it.
Seventh: Understand that the music and the joyness of hear the music is an individual experience.
Eight: Tests on our audio system of many different devices: amps, pre-amps, tonearms, cartridges, speakers, cables,.....
Ninth: Understand that there is no: best amp or best tonearm or best cartridge,... Each item is only a part of the audio chain and what do that an audio system really shine it is the sinergy of all these parts. Like Thomas told us: it is not only the tonearm.

All these subjects and many more takes a very long ( many years ) process of learning: every day process.
I'm in this long process, no I'm not " the principal...", I'm only a man that loves music and that at any time likes to share my experiences, I don't atack to anyone I only disaggree with the others peoples in this thread but I agree, too, with Thomas and Cmk, why I agree with Thomas and Cmk: only because they are an experience people. How can Doug with 13 months of experience ( Cmk write that the sound of the Shroeder tonearm was a relaxed one and Doug latter on write that the Shroeder tonearm was a relaxed one: what did told this to any one ), with a truly limited audio system ( he thinks it is in the high end club. He is not, today is very far from there. Some day he will be there. Doug don't think for a moment that beacuse you are in touch with Chris an other experience people you already done: no you have a very long road in front of you ) and with a closed mind understand what the experience people are talking about? ( he thinks he understand, but it can't, yet ).
Of course Frank, your tonearm is one of the best ever made tonearms in the audio world, but it is not in another league ( that's for sure ), no I never had in my audio system. Yes I would like to have it: my experience told me that there will be no surprises: right now I own 15 of the best tonearms ever made ( like yours ) and I test around other 12 top tonearms in the past: I own 7 differents turntables and test six more in the past: I own 25 differents cartridges and test many of them in the past.This is a long process and a very hard one. Today I enjoy the music and knows what happen with it.
BTW, Sirspeedy the frictionless bearing of Frank tonearm is not the reason why has its signature sound: every tonearm including the Shroeder has its own signature, Frank explain this in one of his anwers.
In a top tonearm usually the pivot bearing friction is less that 50 microgrs, there are tonearms like the Technics EPA 100MK2 in where this value is less that 7 microgrs or like the Mission The Mechanic that is less than 10 microgrs, this small values are invisible in the complex process of the traking a record, and Frank knows that.
Frank and Chris: congratulations for your great contribution to the music reproduction. ¡ Go a head !, all of us music lovers need more people like you.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Kissy, kissy

Hello Paul,
Writing from beautiful Colorado right now. I'm afraid I can't give you a definitive answer regarding the fibre versus lead question. If your machinist refers to "Hartgewebe", phenolic resin impregnated cotton(or other fibres)heat/pressure traeted, then go for it. The material has a chaotic structure and exhibits practically no ringing whatsoever. Astronomic telescopes of smaller proportions are often made utilising Pertinax(phenolic resin impregnated paper)tubes because of the high internal damping(less vibrations=sharper image), it also has a very low temparature expansion coefficient(no change in focus due to temperature changes). I went to using Pertinax for the outer layer of the No.2 armwands because of these traits. Whether a lead sheet yields superior results is also dependent upon the thickness of the sheet used, I'd go for a thin sheet, but ultimately there is no getting around trying it(or several versions...).
As for the SME30, sorry no experience, but several customers of mine use Ref.arms on SME20s and have been very happy with that combination(carts range from Ortofon Rohmann to Koetsu Red Sig. Platinum).
Gotta send this before the computer crashes again(just rewrote this...)

Cheerio,

Frank

P.S.: An ideal set up? Even if I knew(and proclaim) what that would be comprised of, I'd be stepping on so many peoples toes that are convinced they have the answer, I'd stay quiet...

Dear sirspeedy,
Yes, the arm wiring has a tremendeous influence on the overall resulting fidelity. But it isn't enough to look at different conducting materials, the insulation, the solder joints, the cartridge clips and, very importantly, the armwand material(eddy current losses) play an important role. There is no perfect wiring for all carts. Your carts features silver coils? Use appropriate silver wiring and cartridge clips. Copper coils? My choice would be solid core copper, teflon or thin laquer insulation, and so on...
A friend of mine experimented extensively with cyrogenic treatment. You could shurely hear a difference, but proper break in yielded almost no discernable difference.
If you kink solid core wires it is as if you're starting all over again. But that is subject to another debate...
Sonic signature of arms in particular, hmmm - I won't comment on other arms, suffice it to say that it was my goal to build arms that introduce virtually no disturbance of the cart's tracking the grooves. Of equal importance is the way the arm copes with the energy fed into it, here is where my arms differ quite a bit from others. Before I turn this answer into an ad, I'd recommend you listen to one for yourself. No theoretical advantage is worth a dime if your impressions tell you otherwise. Hope to hear about your impressions one day!

Best,

Frank

Frank:
Since you mention CLD, would you share your impressions regarding complementary materials when considering building a DIY armboard. Or a plinth, for that matter. Thanks