Schroeder vs. Triplanar VII Sonic Differences

I can appreciate the concerns expressed over the complex operation of the Kuzma arm. Long ago, I owned a Maplenoll table with an air bearing arm and air suspended platter. It came with a cheap aquarium piston pump and nothing else (no dehydrator, no surge tank, etc.). This is a far cry from the Kuzma arm I saw at CES which is beautifully built, comes with a very serious looking air pump, quality braided air lines, beautifully machined surge tanks, etc.

The Maplenoll was a nightmare. It wasn't a question of whether it might lose air pressure and cause the arm to seize, it was just a matter of WHEN that would happen (within five minutes? an hour?). But, when that did happen, the worst that I experienced was that the record would start to skip. I am sure the cantilever was deflected to a point where the needle would jump out of the groove and return to an earlier groove. I actually never experienced permanent damage to the cartridge (then again, it was not my current Lyra Titan) or to the record. The fear of a horrible catastrophe from the Kuzma arm binding might be a bit overstated. Then again, I could never relax while listening to the Maplenoll, just because I was alway anticipating trouble.

Sorry!I did forget to mention(to be fair)that the ONLY time there was any "sticking" problems,in the Air Tangent,was when the owner was remiss in the regular maintenance cycle.Which was not an overtly significant amount.Also,he only started to get "lazy" about this,when he realized he wanted to cut out maintenance completely,and go the pivot route.Partly due to the influence of mutual friends,owning the newer arm,and touting how good it was.Sound familiar?It's just human nature,I guess!BTW--I'm going to hear it in about three weeks,so will know,for sure,if the linear tracker has been superceded by a better "mouse trap"!

I STILL would own a Kuzma Airline if circumstances permitted me to attribute the effort.I just love the challenge,knowing what I have heard,or at least thought I heard, with a great linear tracker.All compared to the previous,well regarded pivots that my friend owned,before the Air Tangent.Though I STILL feel,based upon my own conjecture,that a Shroeder Ref. would be supremely close.

That being said,the Air Tangent has "stuck",on occassion.No apparent harm to the cartridge,but "not fun"!

Also,Thom is BIG TIME right about the dangers of a perifery clamp.To take it one step further,what if your fingers slipped when placing it down(I believe it requires a two handed grip).These things are heavy!We are talking about "taking out" the arm/cartridge,and a nice gash in your cute table.Definitely NOT for me!

Best!

Hi George,

I am glad, I did go for it. Superior information in all Frequency areas, perfect cartridge alignment and a soundstage to die for.
For me, that's a REALLY good tonearm.

Hi Thom,

I owned an ET 2.5 for many years. The only real maintenance that it required was cleaning the manifold with alcohol every six months or so. If I forgot to do the maintenance, the tonearm would start skipping at the end of LPs where the music went in close to the label. No damage done to the LP or cartridge that I could discern. On the other hand aligning cartridges was a breeze on the ET 2.5. Since I swap cartridges many times over a six month period, I would gladly clean the manifold if I did not have to agonize over adjusting alignment with each cartridge change.

I would love to have a linear tracker again. The Kuzma air bearing is on my dream list. Guess I will just have to live with my VPI 12.5 and Schroeder Reference until I win the lotto.

With regards to periphery clamps I understand your concern. I would not want to own a TT with a vacuum holddown for fear of the needle getting caught between the outer edge of the LP and the rubber surround. Talked to a SOTA owner that had his cantilever natched out of the cartridge when that happened. On the other hand, not all periphery rings are created alike. I own one that is manufactured by Rudolf A. Bruil, of the Netherlands. This periphery ring sits on top of the LP and the inner most part of it sits slightly above the LP. As you feared, in the semi-dark I did drop the tonearm too far out and the stylus dropped onto the rotating metal periphery ring. No damage done. The stylus stayed on top of the metal ring as it rotated until I lifted the arm up and moved it closer to the spindle. Even if I had knocked the stylus off of the ring, it still could not have gotten wedged between the metal and the LP as the inner edge of the ring is raised above the LP.