I have a Vector I arm; I am pleased with its performance. My primary beef with the design is with the inability to adjust VTA easily. I have resorted to making a series of spacers (PVC pipe) to fit between the base of the arm and the armboard, each spacer being about .3 millimeters different in height. I have been told that I am better off selling my current arm and buying a new one than to retrofit the old arm, particularly because the most signficant upgrade is actually the tonearm wiring.
I have heard, though not in my system, Schroeder arms (reference), and that is a very nice arm too. I got to see the US distributor set the arm up; that is a task I would not want to do myself (threading the monofilament "bearing" and setting the gap between the magnets is a bit tricky). Also, the friend getting the Schroeder waited for more than a year to get his arm. It is my understanding that arthritis, or some such ailment, makes it difficult for Mr. Shroeder to turn out many arms and so a backlog has developed.
By the way, I have heard the Basis interconnect and speaker cables. In the system I heard the speaker cables in, they really sounded good -- very dynamic and gutsy. I was surprised how much louder the speakers sounded when the Basis cable replaced either XLO limited or NBS (Omega II, I believe).
I have heard, though not in my system, Schroeder arms (reference), and that is a very nice arm too. I got to see the US distributor set the arm up; that is a task I would not want to do myself (threading the monofilament "bearing" and setting the gap between the magnets is a bit tricky). Also, the friend getting the Schroeder waited for more than a year to get his arm. It is my understanding that arthritis, or some such ailment, makes it difficult for Mr. Shroeder to turn out many arms and so a backlog has developed.
By the way, I have heard the Basis interconnect and speaker cables. In the system I heard the speaker cables in, they really sounded good -- very dynamic and gutsy. I was surprised how much louder the speakers sounded when the Basis cable replaced either XLO limited or NBS (Omega II, I believe).