I was not at RMAF this year, but plan/hope to be there for 2011, where I hope there will be an encore. Since vinyl is (gasp!) my secondary source, I never expect to own one of these reference arms. But we can all learn from these demonstrations and Monday morning quaterbacking. Thom recognizes these lessons:
All of these comparisons are inherrently flawed...
The takeaway from all of this, is that these are show conditions, with varying samples, and only a general sense of what this gear sounds like can be ascertained...the biggest takeaway is that we can build relationships with fellow audiophiles which can better serve us as in the future.
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And as dertonarm so succinctly noted:
I for one do still believe (sounds better then "I know"...) that tonearm and cartridge (if its an LOMC then add the matching SUT to the list ) do form ONE integrative mechanical spring/mass-system and none can be "judged" ( if at all ) - not in absolute terms nor in subjective - without the other.
I could not agree more. There is never going to be an objective, universally applicable "BEST" tonearm. When you add in the vagaries of an audio show w odd rooms, uncertain AC (and A/C), etc., etc., a demonstration like the Schroeder/Talea should be fun first and informative second. By no means dispositive. But fun. Did I mention fun?
Even tho I was not there, my hat is off to Thom for "sponsoring" and to Schroeder and Talea for agreeing and providing the product. That stuff ain't cheap and the demo was not without risk (both real and marketing)! Congrats to all for making it happen. Hope to see you all in 2011.
