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Suitable cartridge fore Schroeder reference arm

Help needed, anyone. Have an excellent Schroeder ref. arm with ebony wand. Am currently using an Ortofon Rhoman wich is fine but i think its damaged so i started looking fore replacement.
The more i read the more confusing it is. Here is my question: Since the ebony wand is heavy should i go fore heavy pickups with high compliance but moderate VTF say 1.5 grams or am i not thinking right. I listen to all kinds of music but preferably acoustic, jazz, R&B, classical but also rock. Maby difficult to find one cartridge that does it all.
The rest of my chain is Holfi (there top of the line) electronics so my riia is one that can handle any load.
Would be greatful fore suggestions and others experience with suitable cartridges for my arm.
best regards
blackblade6

Showing 2 responses by thom_at_galibier_design

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
723 posts
 
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
thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
723 posts
 
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
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