Recommendation for a second arm/cartridge combo

Dear Ca2284: You have a very nice and high resolution system: congratulations. I really like your Eidolon's: great performers.

Whit that kind of money my advise is that you go for a better cartridge: Allaerts Mc2 Finish, Dynavector XV-1, Transfiguration W/V or Van denHul Colibri ( low output one ), these cartridges beats any ZYX, btw those cartridges are very very hard to beat.
If you go for a better cartridge you can have a better quality sound reproduction, remember that the cartridge is the source and is where you can get more for your money, and like Doug told you: "cartridges are for a few thousand hours. ". Enough for 4-5 years of three daily hours of use.

You can choose SME IV or Moerch DP6 for tonearms. This one has the advantage to choose from severals arm wands ( different efective mass ) depending of your cartridge.

Any of these combinations, hands down the Schroeder/901/R100 combinations. Not because the tonearm, but because the lesser quality of the cartridges.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hi,
AFAIK Galibier is only a distributor for Schroeder if you're buying one of their tables. Same for Teres. Schroeder's USA distributor for arm-only sales is
http://www.audioadvancements.com/products.html

A Schroeder Ref/ZYX Airy 3 (or 2) would be brilliant, and credit to Flyingred for first suggesting it. I guarantee that combo will send your existing one to the basement. The only problem will be waiting 4-6 months for the arm. It's worth it.

The Airy 3 is faster and more dynamic than the 2. In a small number of systems it can go a bit edgy but that's very unlikely on a Schroeder Ref - it's the best damped arm on the planet. So go for the Airy 3 if you can. You won't kick yourself. The Airy 3 on a Schroeder Ref would keep anyone happy for years.

Hi: You can have another alternative. To buy a better Clearaudio cartridge. If you like the Victory then you will be in love with the Discovery or the Harmony. Musical Surroundings can take your Victory in a trade-in for those cartridges. Yes, both are better than the ZYX.
The problem with the ZYX are at the low mid-bass and low bass. Some of the people that own ZYX cartridges, in this forum, can't hear these problems because their systems have limited frecuency response in that frecuency range and can't reproduce clean and undistorted sound in that range. I'm not telling you that the ZYX are not a good one cartridge, it is, but there are many other cartridges that are better than ZYX.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hello Doug,
Slight correction:
As of the beginning of this year, Galibier, Teres, AudioAdvancements and a small number of other dealers are to be seen as equals in their rights to sell my arms(no table purchase neccessary ;-). Whoever seems to be providing the best service or is closest to your system(physically or in terms of preferences) should be the one. Don't expect these to compete via the price, which has come down since there is no more distributor margin incorporated in the retail price...
Btw, thanks to all of you for your kind words!

Off to the Munich show tomorrow morning...

Cheerio,

Frank

Thanks for your responses, Flyingred, Cornfedboy, Doug and Raul. I'm about 90% sure on the Schroeder arm but still contemplating on the cartridge. I wish auditioning tonearm/cartridge combos was just as easy and simple as auditioning CD players. There are just too many variables in an analog setup. Anyway, I'll think long and hard about this and hopefully be able to make a decision based on your recommendations and feedback. Thanks again.