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This is quite a long-winded title. It grew from discussions with customers about the common misconception that Schroeder Tonearms have a mushy, indistinct quality to their bass. This false conclusion is no doubt due to the rich harmonic content and vibrant tone colors in music reproduced through a Schroeder.

There are many who confuse rich, textured sound with imprecision. It's easy to understand why this is so, because with lesser hi-fi gear, this is typically the case. It does not have to be ...

There is a further misconception that these tonearms somehow lose detail, because they are so easy on the ears. Nothing could be further from the truth. When the music demands it, you will be shaken from your seat - all the more so, because of the dynamic and tonal contrast you'll experience as a piece of music shifts from lyrical to raucous.

As this topic unfolded, it became important to discuss parallel discoveries I made about drive belts and how they can affect both treble extension (and quality) and by inference, the quality of bass.

A friend of my former collaborator lovingly accuses me of preferring a euphonic sound with a ripe, warm mid-bass - hence my love for this arm. This fellow owns a Triplanar. Truth be told, his beloved Triplanar and the Schroeder are more alike than they are different. It is in this context, that his comments puzzle me. They are both very fine Toenarms.

As audiophiles, we have "learned" (incorrectly, I might add) to associate a relaxed presentation with a rolled off top end, and possibly a tubby resonant bass. Single ended amplification, paired with incompatible speakers comes to mind as an example that uninformed audiophiles frequently use in support of this flawed argument. Syrupy, murky, and slow is not relaxed - although it will likely put you to sleep.

While the term neutral might otherwise be appropriate, audiophile magazines have beaten this word to death. As a result, many who hear this term connote it with sound typical of solid-state amplification and negative feedback. Perhaps a more appropriate term than "relaxed" is "natural". Natural to me has more to do with the absence of additive distortions - especially, odd-order harmonics.

When I listen to Kathleen Battle (pick your favorite soprano), I don't want a system to compress and distort as her voice begins to soar. A system should be able to keep up with the dynamics of a gal with a good set of pipes who's well recorded. As my gear has evolved over the years, I find myself enjoying her voice more than ever - not because it is smoothed over but rather because of the increased dynamic range and top end extension along with a concurrent reduction in additive colorations and strain.

A system or component which has limited frequency extension and an overly resonant and tubby bass is not natural. Systems that cannot keep up with fast percussive music like bluegrass or Caribbean jazz are seriously flawed. A system with these shortcomings is intolerable.

Let me expand on this mid-bass warmth concept (a common and incorrect criticism of the Schroeder) in a roundabout way - by relating my experimentation with drive belts.

As I changed from (a) nylon string / dental floss to (b) cassette tape, to (c) computer backup tape (slightly wider), to (d) 1/2" VHS tape, and now to (e) Mylar (also 1/2" wide), a pattern emerged. Each step increased the belt rigidity, and produced a more immediate, incisive, and yet cleaner, less distorted sound. The highs were more extended, cleaner, and easier on the ears. At the same time, the bass tonality was more lush while maintaining precision and rhythmic coherence.

I initially found this bass warmth to be paradoxical because bass still had punch when the music demanded it. After pondering this, it became obvious to me. The "warmth" (which I prefer to think of as harmonic richness) was a direct result of the extended top end. Of course, this richness in the bass came from the natural upper harmonics blending with the fundamental (bass) tone. The bass was beginning to take on a "touch me" sort of texture.

Without getting too much into belts and speed stability, let me say that this top end extension comes from an order of speed stability that is well below the threshold of wow and flutter. Think of this as the analog equivalent of digital jitter. Technically, these micro levels of instability are manifestations if IM and FM distortion. If this topic further interests you, an excellent (if wordy) discussion of this can be found in the first thousand words of Peter Moncrief's review of the Rockport Sirius Turntable. While written in a redundant style, the first thousand words is everything you'll ever need to know on the subject.

Ultimately, it's impossible to describe a tonearm outside of the entire system's context, and especially outside the context of the cartridge and turntable. To date, I've played with higher mass Schroeders, although one of the 'tables I placed at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest had a medium mass arm fitted with a Lyra cartridge. The pedigree of this arm cast no doubt that it was a Schroeder.

As of this writing, the cartridges I'm most familiar with on Schroeders are:

• Denon DL 103R
• Shibui (more on this below)
• Ortofon SPU Royal N
• Myabi 47

The first three were on my 'tables, and the Myabi is on Steve Kaufman's Platine Verdier.

The DL 103R has a slight bit of mid-bass warmth (only slight). The other 3 cartridges do not. The Shibui is made by Eclectic Audio (the Incognito wire people). It begins life as a Denon DL 103. The body and cantilever are then removed. A lower mass cantilever with Shibata stylus are fit and a custom, aluminum body is machined for it. As of this writing, the cartridge is in pre-production status and is not expected to be available until mid-late 2005.

I am just now optimizing it - settling in on loading after putting close to 50 hours on it. It retains the Denon's virtues and tightens up the bass, while having extraordinarily extended highs and being very quiet in the groove. As I work more with this cartridge, I am concluding that it gives up none of the stock Denon's virtues, while building on them.

The SPU Royal N is a vintage cartridge, but is best described as falling somewhere between a good Dynavector and Benz - with very rich tone colors and great dynamic punch. The only reason I can think of that this cartridge is not more popular is due to its optimal implementation being to pair it with a high mass tonearm. Having said that, the above referenced Triplanar owner has also fallen in love with this cartridge.

I've had some experience with a Benz Ruby 2 on a Schroeder. I've had extensive experience of the Ruby 2 along with other Benz models fit to other arms to say that the Benz sonic signature comes through sublimely.

With my experiences of the above cartridges I am confident in concluding that the Schroeder is not imparting its signature on the music, but rather giving the cartridge an opportunity to shine through. Does the arm sound "woody"? Yes - when an oboe is playing. It also "sounds" like brass when a cymbal is struck, or like a Fender Stratocaster when appropriate.

Perhaps the highest claim I can lay on these tonearms is something that someone pointed out to me. When people start discussing the Schroeder, they stop using audiophile terms and start thinking and talking in musical terms. I can think of no higher praise than this.

I recently commented that I'm gaining less confidence in other people's observations about analog rigs. During a recent session with Frank, he demonstrated the effect of varying the tension on cartridge screws. Those of us brought up in the British school are in for a big surprise. Suffice it to say that you can dramatically change the sound of your analog rig by changing the tightness of your cartridge screws. Generally speaking, tighter is not better.

Frank goes on further to state that the main reason people wax so ebulliently about brass screws has less to do with the brass, and more to do with how tight you can make the screws. Typically, brass screws are only available with straight slots. This, combined with the softness of brass means that you can't give them the type of torquing that Linnies prefer to use with Allen head screws. If you take one thing from this commentary, it should be to experiment with your cartridge screw tightness. You just may rediscover your analog rig.