New Schroeder linear tonearm, any thoughts?

Why would there be any damage to the cartridge? Frank's moving pivot necessarily offers LESS resistance to longitudinal forces seen by the stylus than any fixed pivot.

Any arm with a fixed pivot (including traditional linear trackers) offers 100% resistance to longitudinal forces. On Frank's arm, these longitudinal forces are reduced by the extent they're used to move the pivot, leaving less force to be seen by the stylus.

The tonearms we all own impose greater longitudinal forces on the stylus than Frank's new design. If anything, this should result in longer cartridge life, not shorter.

As to how it sounds, I have no idea!

+1 to Johnnyb53's post.

@Frank - are you ready to retire on regular monthly royalty payments? I know some good IP attorneys. ;-)

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Mosin, thanks for the props but you mis-spelled "discerning". Having just bought a new house, I'm now among the most "dis-earning" audiophiles.

dave,

Reverse engineering of protected intellectual property for commercial purposes is often actionable, though the legal complexities can be daunting. If the action is successful, the court may order injunctive relief (i.e., a "cease and desist" order against the unlicensed user) and/or civil damages.

Samsung was recently found to have violated Apple's IP rights by reverse engineering elements of the i-Phone and implementing them for commercial gain in its own Galaxy phones. Appeals are pending, but at trial Samsung was ordered to pay Apple several billion dollars in damages and enjoined from selling certain models and features.

Of course if the reverse engineering company has much deeper pockets they can exhaust the poor inventor, as you said. Blah, blah, blah...

For the purposes of this discussion, I wasn't thinking primarily about enforcing (or stealing) IP rights. The immediate value of an IP attorney for Frank would be to help negotiate licensing agreements with honest manufacturers.

This assumes Frank would actually be interested. That would be a departure of course. He's an audiophile, artist and craftsman first, a (very good) businessman second.

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Isochronism,

Speaking of watchmakers, I just bought a house from a man who repairs, rebuilds and sells antique clocks. You'd have loved his basement machine shop... cool stuff.

Hicks Antique Clocks

Dave (Intactaudio),

Totally concur with your last post. Patents are like locks: they help generally honest people remain honest by imposing barriers to temptation. They will not deter a determined burglar (or a deep-pocketed competitor).

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I'm with Johnnyb53 on the question of learned listening techniques vs. aural acuity (i.e. bat's ears). My hearing is less acute today at nearly 60 (yikes!) than it was at 20 or 30. Yet my ability to hear and understand music and sonics is greater and it continues to improve.

Example: fifteen years ago I couldn't adjust SRA by ear, even in my own system. Today I can adjust SRA by ear in a resolving but unfamiliar system, even with an LP I've never heard before... in 2 minutes or less. My aging ears aren't growing more bat-like, my brain has learned what to listen for.

The Sherlock Holmes metaphor was quite apt, IMO. In, 'The Sign of Four' (the first Holmes story), Holmes explains to Watson that he was quite consciously training his mind to improve specific skills needed for his chosen profession. In particular, he was honing his powers of observation and deduction by acquiring two things:
1. awareness of phenonomena he was likely to encounter at a crime scene;
2. knowledge of the sources of such phenomena.

While Sherlock Holmes raw intellect was presumably well above average, it required specific training to make him a great detective. Contemporaries of equal or even greater intellect (e.g., his brother Mycroft) were inferior detectives because they had not developed and practiced the necessary skills.

Another example would be the reputed 100 names for snow used by Inuits vs. the few names used by people who don't need such depth of knowledge about the stuff. The Inuits' senses are presumably no more or less acute than yours or mine, but they've trained their brains to a profound level of skill in an area of particular interest and concern. Likewise, the dedicated audiophile.