Suitable cartridge fore Schroeder reference arm

OOPS forgot to say it is an 12" arm.

Herr Schroeder is extraordinarily helpful to owners of his arms, even years after a particular arm left his shop. I have no doubt that he will offer you some recommendations on suitable cartridges.

Not familiar with the schroeder arm, but i think the zyx lineup are outstanding choices for many different arms. I have personal experience with the universe and airy3 and have been pleased with the performance.

I have heard a 10" Reference SQ at length with a Lyra Olympos. It is to die for. I imagine the Lyra Titan would give you a taste of that, and it is far more easily available. For a lot less money, the Soundsmith Voice is also very nice. I could easily live with that cartridge.

Thank you Robdoorack, Oilmanmojo and Mosin fore youre imput.
Have a local dealer that stocks Lyra's.
I'm also a bit interested in the moving irons like soundsmith and Musik Man but unfortenatly no one in Sweden seems to sell them,this is also the case with ZYX, one would like to here fore one self before spending 1k + or more on such a tiny item.
I'll email Mr. Schroeder and ask him fore advice also.
Thanks again

Lyras will work very well, and are one of Frank's favorites.

Personally, I'd get an Ortofon SPU Royal N and consider myself a happy boy. It's a great combination and works very well with high mass tonearms.

I'm really sorry I sold this one and one day will pick up another (note the ebony Schroeder wand): http://www.galibierdesign.com/zzz_spu_royal_n.html

Check with Peter about the Soundsmith strain gauge. He tends to favor higher compliance designs, but since he's gotten to know Frank, you never know what's going on in the back of the shop.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Thanks Thom,
Very good input, is the SPU royal N a good allrounder? seens i listen to all kinds of music. The Rhoman is fine but it tends to bee more of picking details rather than holding together the musical nerve.
Thanks again

The SPU Royal N has a Dynavector flavor to it - very rich in tone colors and very dynamic.

It is very strange sounding for the first 15 hours or so - very disjointed until that point. Things begin to cohere fairly quickly after that. It's very balanced sounding, but like Dynavectors, your system will bark at you if there's something wrong with it.

In talking about it with Frank (several years ago), he commented that the Royal-N is a better cartridge than anything Ortofon has made since.

It's a bit touchy about VTA adjustment (replicant stylus profile), but I believe the modern Ortofons have this characteristic as well.

I mistakenly disposed of this cartridge because I blamed the messanger. I was running a pair of speakers that I later learned had a 4dB peak - starting at 650 Hz.

In visiting Kevin Brooks and his wonderful Ales based system, I realized what I had parted with. Kevin was running his Royal-N on a Micro MAX-287 arm sitting on one of my Stelvios.

Cheers,
Thom

i ran an zyx universe on a Schroeder Medel One, a fine combination. You want to keep the Schroeder adjusted to get the best out of it.

Thanks a lot Thom, very useful comments, i can confirm the VTA trouble with my Ortofon Rhoman and ad Azimuthsensitive too.
I found an English dealer " cool gales" that stocks the Royale fore 734 stirling pounds, fair price i think since german sights sell fore 1200 Euro.
Thanks also G_m_c fore youre input, could you elaborate on the adjusting part about the Shroeder since i seem to get different result with different settings. I have double string and that seems to generate to much antiskating , maybe i'l try single string instead.
Cheers and may we all come to music nirvana, systemvise, that is.

Re: the adjustment comment... I found that I needed to check vta on the Schroeder as my old loft goes through temperature and humidity changes regularly. The Schroeder One seemed influenced by the extremes more than the Tripanar. It is not difficult to do the checking and adjustment except that I am just lazy. The ZYX (and any great cartridge) can really sing when dialed in, and in combination with the Schroeder, you are in for nirvana. It is one of the great arms. Best of luck and enjoy.

I have used a Soundsmith SMMC1 with great results on a DPS arm, and more recently the Miyajima Shilabe as reviewed on 10 Audio. Previous to that a Transfiguration Orpheus. All matched up good with the Schroeder Arm.

Thanks G_m_c, i here you and understand what you mean. Since the Schroeder is mostly wood and 12" at that. Thanks fore your advice.
Thanks also Marty_t so it seems that the reference could sound pretty good with al kinds of cartridges. It is interesting to heare that it can "sing" with a high compliance cart. as the soundsmith SMMC1. But the more i read about SPU Royale N the more i lean towards one. But hey since the royale N is fairly priced there might bee money over fore a Sounsmith or a Musikl Man as nice backup.
Thanks again all fore good inputs and keep'm coming i'm happy fore all help i can get.
Great community i didn't think i'd get so much comments in such a short time.
Thank you all, best regards.

I have had a lot of cartridges in my Schroeder tonearms over the years, and haven't yet found a combination which did not work. I have used Lyra, Kiseki, Koetsu, Accuphase, Tubaphon/EMT, Linn so far. What I noticed was that the Schroeder is able to tame fast and revealing cartridges, which sound ringer in other tonearms. Currently I am listening to Accuphase AC-2 in my 10.5 inch Schroeder model No.1, latest version.

Would I choose under current production cartridges, I would surely include Soundsmith and Miyajima in the list I would try. When I visited Frank Schroeder last year, I could listen to both Moving Iron as well as the Strain Gauge in Schroeder tonearms. I liked both.

best regards, Hartmut

> sound ringer
oops I meant: sound ringy
sorry, Hartmut

Thanks Hartmut fore youre input, I appreciate it since you have a Schroeder arm youreself. Do you have any favorit cartridge among the ones you have tried. One that you remember especially.
Best regards.
Blackblade6

I love the SQ w. the Titan I. Also, the combination w. the ZYX Universe but I prefer the Titan I. Not all cartridges sound best in the Schroder. It depends on the armwand mass and what the compliance is. Be careful & specify carefully. I would agree w.the Voice as being a nice match if you order the lighter weight armwand. If you want a Koetsu I would suggest a more traditional arm from my experience. The Koetsu has a lot of the "Schroder Musicality" but needs the added dynamics of some other arms. This is my opinion but based on my experience.

Hartmut is right about it taming some of the ringier cartridges. I would call them bright or maybe thin or maybe overly detailed. It really depends on the system.

yes I can confirm that the Lyras are excellent matches. Though I made not yet friends with the Skala, but I like the cheap Dorian with the Schroeder. I also liked what the Titan i did, when i heard it side by side with the Skala using Triplanars on Spiral Groove turntables.

If I understand Dgad correctly, he suggests, that it could make sense using cartridges with complementary character, rather than those going in the same direction. I certainly agree about that.

BTW, thank you for sharing your opinion about Zyx/Schroeder matching, as there is an Airy 3 for sale locally, and I was indeed pondering.

FYI, I have a one-off Schroeder with a special armwand made for my taste. It is multi-hybrid with blackwood headshell, and multi layer carbon/teflon/pertinax wand with filled cavities here and there, even with some secret ingredients. This wand was made to sound livelier than the usual wooden wands, but without the artificial sound accompanied with cheaper carbon wands. I think Frank Schroeder did an excellent job with this. It took me years to convince Frank to do it exactly like this, but it was worth the wait.

best regards, Hartmut