New Schroeder linear tonearm, any thoughts?


I noticed Frank Schroeder has a new linear arm without servo motors, pumps, etc. seems like a promising direction. Did anyone hear it at RMAF?
crubio
Raul,

Very tempting, but when do I leave well enough alone? I have seen so
many great designs and Wally measured Tonearms a few years ago to
rotational inertia (the force needed by the groove to move the stylus)
across the LP. This basically would be demonstrated by the Tonearms
pulling back against the cartridge and produce excessive force on the
cantilever. Something that most of us take for granted. It was truly
educational. He mentioned some of the best arms he has tested we're the
SME, TW 10.5, and Breuer. He also showed some unconventional designs
to "stick" along portions of an LP. The reason I bring this up is
that my Schroder SQ obviously would excel in such a test beyond all arms
and might be why I am so enamored with its sound. I wonder if this new
design from Frank would have similar problems. I doubt any bearing that
traverses over a pivoting area would have as low friction - inertia. This can
honestly be tested. Franks claims to the contrary might be true and then we
have something special. I believe linear tracking arms of the true linear
variety all suffer from needing high forces against the cantilever to move
the stylus.
Looking at the photos, I assume that at the distal end of the arm wand there is a bearing of some kind (I have read elsewhere that it is not a string-type bearing) that must have lowest possible friction. How then does the mechanism in the base "know" that the tonearm is pivoting across the surface of the LP? Is there any sort of linkage between the two mechanisms, or does the moving pivot just move independently of the arm wand pivot? If the latter, then it would seem one must re-set the pivoting base each time. And what happens if one wishes to start listening at some cut in the middle of the LP? (Thus I think I have got it wrong; there has to be a link of some kind between the two pivots or maybe the rear of the arm wand is fixed such that the stylus movement must control the whole operation.)
Lewm, I think that is driven by skating forces that arise as soon as the arm is out of tangent. If you'll notice the cartridge is mounted square in the headshell- no offset angle- which would increase said forces.
Dear friends: Only to share a different new tonearm on the market. Musical Arts's description is really even with no promises of any kind and this is a good thing. Looks interesting:

http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=8202.0

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

To understand the Schröder LT arm, you can research three things:

A: The Thales circle.

B: The patent by Richard W. Birch in 1969.

C: The thread Atmasphere suggested.

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