The Schroeder has arrived

Hi Doug,

You can still get an Olympus. It takes is some leg work however, along with the requisite cost of entry.

You need to first locate a Lyra Parnassus with platinum magnets (not the Parnassus DCT). All you're after are the magnets. If you want to buy some time to listen to the Parnassus, then by all means it should be a working cartridge.

Lyra will then build an Olympus for you - recycling only the magnets. For reasons I don't understand, the Platinum magnets are unobtanium, but if you provide them, an Olympus can be yours.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Hello Flyingred, hi Raul,
As this might be of interest to you and other Schröder owners, I'd like to give a little advice on how to tighten up the bass and/or add bottom end "authority". I gladly agree that, if not perfectly adjusted("tweaked"), bass tightness and punch might not be up to the rest of the spectrum.
Try the following: Adjust the gap between the magnets until you've reached maximum topend "air" and extension without loosing the focus of individual instruments yet(no more than 0.5mm in my experience). Now tighten the counterweight grubscrew incrementally which will get you a tighter bass. Too tight and the midrange purity will suffer a tad. Now if you find the image too "tightfisted"(foreshortened decays), slightly reduce the torque on the screw that holds the headshell plate. This should result in a further improved rendition of the recording venue's accoustic.
Finally go back to the VTA and gap setting(smaller gap:tighter bass, less bloom). Make sure that for every change in the gap you alter the VTA setting accordingly.
The finetuning of the tracking force should follow lastly, but since the optimum setting is temperature dependent you might want to recheck every three months or so(to some extent true for all carts regardless of the arm in use).
In some cases(cartridges with little inherent cantilever suspension damping) the addition of a drop of silicon damping fluid(wiped off onto the bearing thread so it can "travel" down into the well) will yield a tighter bass. Too much silicon and the rendition of microdynamic differences will suffer(usually not recommended).
And a final note about the wiring. Those customers ordering the arm with the thin solid core wire should know( and I'm telling my dealers to relay that message) that it takes a long time(2-3months, 2hours playtime a day) for this wiring to break in. At first it will sound too thin! So give it a little time, once broken in, the bottom end will not sound undernourished, highs will be pure(not sweet as in sugary), then again, it's what you're hearing, not what I'm telling you to hear, that matters...

Have fun guys,

Frank

Hi Frank: Tha's all about: first hand info, great Frank.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hi Frank, all ...

Not only does a link to your "keeper" post land on my Schroeder FAQ page, but I'm framing it !!

Your comments have great value for owners of all tonearms - not just Schroeders. For example, I encourage Rega owners with aftermarket counterweights to play with the set screw tightness as well as their cartridge screw mounting tightness.

I recently delivered a turntable to someone who also owns a Micro MX-282. Quite a few former Platine-Verdier owners have this arm. He was quite amazed at its tuneability - an arm he had on his Platine for 3 years.

-----

In my setup procedure, I had been working by starting with the counterweight, then moving to the other parameters (headshell screws, magnet spacing). I would begin with a close magnet spacing and then tune for air and bloom by working the counterweight set screw tightness. From there, I'd work back to the magnet spacing and headshell screw.

This procedure has gotten me to 99% of the bass performance of my Micro Seiki MX-282 which I consider to be as good as any arm I've heard in this regard.

Of course, the Micro sounds like a machine (as you work your way further up the spectrum) in comparison with the organic sound of the Schroeder - a liability, in case you have any doubts about my listening biases.

My setup (as heard by Flyingred) is another case of thinking you're done when you've actually stopped before reaching the finish line. Because I listen to mostly acoustic music, I had not chased this last bit of bass performance, but you've once more inspired me to get even more out of my setup, Frank.

I need to re-emphasize something because in reading this and other threads you may get the wrong impression.

Don't for a moment consider any of these setup comments to be statements that a Schroeder is a finicky tonearm. Quite the opposite is the case. I look at this as the arm being responsive to adjustment.

As Frank and I have mentioned, much of this setup protocol is applicable to many other tonearms.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Thom,
Thanks for reminding me about the Parnassus/platinum -> Olympus upgrade path. Frank did mention that and explained it just as you have. One friend of mine who owns a Parnassus is considering it. He also owns a UNIverse, so he'll be more spoiled than any audiophile has a right to be.

Thanks to you and Frank both for all the fine-tuning ideas. I'm sure all here would agree with your take on "responsive" vs. "finicky" components.

Dmailer,
The second picture of you on Thom's owner's page is priceless. Kneeling at the alter of vinyl-dom! I genuflect before mine weekly, just to remind it who's boss.