When I started on this upgrade binge 10 years ago my wife made the request of “no valves”, I might get away with it now but having heard a few Audionote UK setups recently I’m content with my Naim, though I might audition a pair of Es in it if the NBLs die.
On the occasion I first heard the io it was in a WT Versalex with a P75 phonostage but the latter was set to MM and there was an audionote (UK) SUT in between, It was a significant improvement on the Benz Micro LS it replaced in that deck. When I was looking for a replacement for my Rock (because I couldn’t find any belts to fit any more that didn’t develop a kink) I had a Versalex at home and tried the Proteus in it but it wasn’t a great match, that deck really shines with a DRT XV1t.
My deck quest ended with the Artemis SA-1 and since it came with the option to jump the queue on a Schröder Reference I seemed silly not to, I wonder if there are any others with BNC plugs on their arm-leads, here it is in action.
Was a Schroder arm worth the wait?
P.S. Anything would be an improvement over Benzzzzz. 
I waited 5 months in the end, it was meant to be 3 and yes it is but it not easy to get the best out of it. The Aro is relatively easy to optimise setup on. The Schröder is not an arm for frequent cartridge changes.
That is because ARO is very forgiving. Most cartridges sound good on it. They might not be THE perfect set up but musicality comes through.
Which cartridge does Frank recommend with his tone arm?
Would a Royal N work with it?
The reference can be quite customisable when ordered, Frank knew I would be using a Proteus when he built mine. Even last year when I spoke to him at Munich I had no inkling I’d be replacing it with anything else, though we did touch on using a London Decca wired for mono on my Aro which I retained for use in my system in France.
My Schröder has an effective mass of 13g with the supplied aluminium cartridge mounting plate, this can be increased to around 18g by using a brass one, which Frank is supplying. If I plug this numbers into the resonance equation with the mass of the SPU and spacer I get ~10Hz, Frank seems to think it will be higher so I’ll be checking it with a test record and again after a bit of run in. I think Frank can supply a heavier arm tube if necessary but I don’t know the cost or waiting time and hope I won’t have to find out.
The Schroder is supposedly very good at dealing with energy from the cartridge, if anything better than the Aro but not in the same way. I certainly get more out of the Proteus on it, once I’d got the hang of setting it up, which took a couple of months, its very sensitive to adjustments, even two years later I’m still finding improvements. Counterweight locking screw tension was my last discovery, about the same as an Aro arm pillar screw, i.e. just enough to hold it, seem to give a freer sound and the same goes for most of the others, no more than will do the job. Over tighten everything and it will sound more like an SME.
I gotta tell you Yeti, I am soooo curious to know what Frank thinks of ARO. 
I cornered him in the Silbatone room and mainly discussed the Arm he’d made for me. I didn’t ask his opinion of the Aro but I mentioned I was now using a Decca (London) on the one I’d retired from my main system, he only commented briefly that the the Decca had deficiancies, to which I replied that mine was wired for mono which solved a lot of them, he didn’t disagree with that, I suppose that could be tacit approval of the Aro, or indeference. I’d bent his ear enough by then and we didn’t discuss it further.
I’d originally intended to transfer the Aro to the Artemis but with the offer of a three month wait for the Schröder rather than two years plus the dealer (Ivan Kursar of Cool Gales) offering a full refund if I didn’t like what I heard pursuaded me to go for it.
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