$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Hi to everyone,
It seems there are a few questions regarding the durability of the thread in my arms and then some regarding the perceived "fragility" in day to day use.
The thread is made out of an Aramid type material, comprised of several hundred individual fibres for a thread of 0.3mm diameter. It has a tensile strength of nearly 50pounds and is extremely resistant against abrasives and most chemicals. It doesn´t deteriorate when being subjected to normal levels of UV light. Should it break, I will replace it for free(it happened once during shipping and the only other incident involved a parrot...)
A finger lift can easily be added to the headshell mounting plate(they do vibrate, no matter what)
The arm has no armwand locking feature because it doesn´t need one normally. Once you move the armwand too far past the runout groove, it isn´t falling from the "edge of the world" ;-) ; aka the lift bank, since the counterweight will then touch the arm´s base(behind the bearing, right hand side), preventing it from moving or being moved any further. Properly adjusted, the bearing block(rotate it) will serve as a "stopper".
A locking mechanism could be added if that makes you feel safer(personally, I don`t like the looks of it...).

A great weekend to ya all,

Frank(manufacturer with no intention to solicit sales...)

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your kind words(previous post). Fwiw, the No.2 arm is also available with a Pertinax(resin impregnated paper) based, three layer CLD armwand. Looks more like wood and has none of the carbon fiber sonic fingerprint.

A great weekend to this bunch,

Frank

Dear Artar1,
"The Schroeder is a well-respected arm. If you have your heart set on it, you might as well get it. But it does look a little temperamental and perhaps somewhat difficult to install. For me the price is a major barrier."
Just to give me some insight as to how people perceive my products: What gives you the feeling that my arms(or where you referring to the Reference only)are difficult to install?
It takes just two holes(M4-tapped, if you´re using a metal or acrylic board, 3,5-4mm woodscrew, if your tt has a wooden mounting board). The other model are no challenge either(21-25mm hole, one or three mounting screws required). No elongated holes or any need to get underneath the turntable.
As for the set up, Chris Brady can attest to the ease of set up once you´ve under stood how the arms work(no rocket science, hehe). BTW, one of the reasons I discontinued the No.1 arm is that it did require more time to get the set up spot on.
Pricing, yes, this gives me a headache too, but the weak $ is something that is beyond my influence(scary if I had any ;-)). I promise that as soon as the $ goes up again the prices will be adjusted...
None of the above is to say that one shouldn´t go for what one feels most comfortable with(sound, operation, looks).
Whichever arm you´re choosing, if you put it on a Teres or a Galibier, you´ve come alot closer to the "final" recordplayer.

Best,

Frank Schröder

Hello Chris,
The difference between the armwands - both are CLD, the old one with carbon fiber on the outside, the newer on features Pertinax as the outer "shell" - is directly attributable to the much better inherent damping of Pertinax and the fact that eddycurrent losses(result of wiring running in close proximity to the conductive armwand) have been nearly eliminated. In the newer version, the inner layer consists of a fairly thick walled, small inner diameter teflon tube(dielectric constant close to that of air...).
The slightly "lively" character of the carbon fiber arm tube might suit some tastes or systems better but I´d still say it´s a resonance artefact that I can do without. As usual, ymmv ;-)

Cheers,

Frank