Has anyone had experience with the Schroeder Arm

I had the opportunity to listen to the Galibier Supreme with both the Schroeder Reference and the Triplanar while visiting Thom Mackris in Boulder. He's an excellent host. I wrote a field report here :
http://www.echoloft.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=Vinyl&action=display&num=1096030324

Briefly, the Triplanar is a high resolution arm, capable of extracting lots of detail and sounding musical at the same time. Quite extraordinary. The Schroeder Ref has all the same detail, but presented it in a relaxed, natural manner - a characteristic of all Schroeder arms I might add.

I think, everyone has it's own kind of sight, I compared last year the Schroeder with a Graham 2.0 ( no 2.2 ), in my System, same cartridge etc. ( it was a Takeda Miyabi ).
The main difference was, the Schroeder creates a bigger soundstage ( holographic ), but is not as precise as the Graham and in my opinion the Graham is much better in the higher frequencies, here it simply delivered more info.
The Schroeder Arm is good, very good, no question, but I didn't buy it, the better Detail from the Graham combined with my doubts about it's pricing ( It's an arm with a magnetic bearing and an armwand made of wood, it is a nice idea, but only a bit different compared to a Well Tempered Ref. ) made my decision.
I think, there are only 2 real advantages with the Schroeder:
you can match an armwand to your cartridge (weight )
and
you can have a longer one ( 10.5 , 12.5 etc.+ matched for your cartridge ).

The higher frequencies have nothing to do with distortion, we used a Klyne 7 Phono with it's special calibratings.

Now, I compared a Graham 2.0 to the 2.2 and I was impressed, that bearing cup is a real improvement.

Anyway, I bought a Tri-Planar VII as a 2. arm for me.

another short story:
a friend of mine, who knows my system well, went to someone who has 2 (!) Schroeder Reference ( 2 different cartridges ) and some rare ( = exclusive ? ) electronics, but average speakers, my friend told me, he was glad, when he left the house, he was so dissapointed from the presentation ( detail, but dull ) ....
An arm alone is not the secret ....

Cmk,
Shroeder: superbly musical and relaxed
TriPlanar: musical and superbly detailed
Seems like a good summary of what I heard.

Thomasheisig,
It's certainly possible the Schroeder may roll off HF's more than the Graham. Not quite like a Koetsu's smoothing though, it's difficult to describe. Did you try changing the Shroeder's dampening?

How do you compare the TriPlanar to the Graham? You're the only person I've heard who has both.

The real question is, what is your frame of reference?

There are some who believe that very precise imaging is "accurate" due to more extension in the highs which gives a specific image focus.

Or is it that in sonic images reproduced should be approximate, but the detail is there, unforced. When listening to live acoustic concerts in a hall with good acoustics, if you close your eyes, you can place most of the instruments in their proper place, but can you say that X is planted here and Y there? I seriously doubt.

There was a time when I would have placed greater emphasis on image focus and detail retrieval, but now I value the music's flow and tonal accuracy much more.

As in all things, system balance is important. More information about sirspeedy's system is required.

Dear sirspeedy 7068: First than all a tonearm does not have a sound for itself. The Lp sound reproduction it has to do in a first level with the: tonearm/cartridge combo ( a Rega tonearm can beat the Shroeder if this one does not match with the cartridge and the rega match with the cartridge ). The Shroeder it is not in other league, it is at the same level that the Basis, Audiocraft,SME, or other top tonearms, the differences on top tonearms are: price and different presentation of the sound reproduction, the fact it is not which is better but which sound reproduction goes with you and the live music.
Dear sirspeedy: what are you looking for? what do you don't like in your anolog system ( tonearm/cartridge/turntable/phono cable/phono pre-amp )?
I agree with Thomasheisig: " an arm alone is not the secret ". I agree too with Cmk: we need more information about your audio system including your room and " what are your frame of reference ? ".
The correct sound reproduction at home is a very complicated issue, there are many parameters that we have to handle in sinergy for to obtain good results.
The experience that had Dougdeacon it told you very little things, I explain: there was a meeting of six peoples for to hear an audio system ( that was not their each own system ) and test three differents tonearms with three differents phono cartridges, taking two days on those tests: here are nine tonearm/cartridge combinations, if they hear for 36 hours in those two days ( almost imposible ), this means that they hear for four hours each combination: this time is not enough not only for to do a precise judgment on the Shroeder tonearm but to know how the whole audio system sound. There is another issue in that meeting: six peoples that interchange information and one each other do an influence for the final judgments: this has a very small value.
Instead the Thomasheisig is a very valued experience: the music experience is an individual experience, with no external people influence. Yes, I know that all of us has to learn for other people experiences but our judgments should be an individuals ones.
BTW Doug: where do you learn that the music experience is a relaxed one? You put this adjective to the Shroeder sound reproduction. Dear Doug try to go this weekend to a club/bar to hear a live jazz group and think about it.
Dear sirspeedy, we hope to hear from you soon.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.