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Instruction Manual
Schroder Model 2 Tonearm
Dear Customer
Congratulations! You have purchased a unique tonearm that will transcribe
the most accurate detail and provide the most musically enjoyable
reproduction from your vinyl records. The tonearm features a bearing that is
different from all other tonearms. To take full advantage of this inherently
superior design please take the time to study and familiarise yourself with
this manual.
I hope you will
enjoy mounting and adjusting the tonearm and rediscovering your record
collection.
1. Mounting
the Tonearm
Mounting the
arm requires drilling a 20 -23mm hole (Rega mounting) in your plinth or
armboard plus three (tapped)holes for the mounting screws(non-magnetic M4).
The pivot to
spindle distance for this arm measures 222mm.
Once you have
found the correct position screw the mounting collar(b) to the base or
plinth of your tonearm using three M4screws or, if your turntable features a
wooden plinth, suitable brass or stainless wood screws.
If your pivot
to spindle distance should be off by +/- 1mm the difference can easily
compensated for when adjusting the overhang(see below).
The following
schematics will help you to identify the tonearm parts including the
setscrews necessary to properly align your arm and cartridge:
a. Antiskating adjustment
disc, also used to adjust gap between magnets
b. Mounting collar, one of
three mounting screw holes shown
c.Tonearm
shaft
d.Upper
bearing disc
e.Bearing
thread
f.VTA
adjustment locking screw
Tonearm assembly, seen from above:
g. Counterweight
locking screw
h. Bearing
thread
i.Cartridge
mounting holes/screws
j.Overhang
and offset angle locking screw
2)
Dressing the tonearm
wiring
This tonearm
comes standard with a cable that was chosen for it’s sonic and mechanical
properties. The signal is carried in a single run from the cartridge clips
to the headamp or phonostage omitting additional soldered connections..
Please try to
keep a distance of about 10mm between the magnet assembly and the wiring.
The restoring force of the supplied wiring is small and it can easily be"bent“ into shape,
though sharp bends are to be avoided.
3)
Electrical connections, grounding
The
conductors/connectors are colour-coded according to the international
standard:
Red = right
channel, hot ; green = right channel, ground ; white = left channel, hot ;
blue = left channel, ground .
RCA plugs: red
= right channel ; black = left channel
The standard
wiring is shielded from the arm to the RCA-plugs. The"ground“ wire is to be
connected to the following amplification stage’s"ground“. If you use a"star grounding“
pattern, connect the ground wire to your"central“ ground.
4)
Adjusting your tonearm/cartridge
4.1)
Alignment of the arm relative to the turntable
Now you can
remove the cardboard strip sitting between the magnets. It was placed there
to prevent excessive movement during shipping. This bearing is, unlike many
other bearing types, not susceptible to shock induced damage. It is still
advisable to keep the cardboard strip for later transports(any appropriately
folded peace of paper will do).
4.2)
Mounting your cartridge
The cartridge
can be mounted in the headshell using the supplied M2.5 non-magnetic
stainless steel screws(i). You might prefer
to first separate
the mounting plate from the armwand by unscrewing the M3-connection-screw(j)
. Usually it is sufficient to tighten the M2.5 screws well, but not
excessively so. Over-tightened
screws can result in internal tensions in the cartridge body, negatively
affecting the sound or even damaging the internal structure. Don’t forget:
the next step after"REALLY tight“ is"totally loose“.
Connecting the
mounting plate with the armwand requires tightening screw j, the same
rules apply.
4.3)
Tracking force and overhang
Take the
counterweight and slide it onto the back section of the armwand. Leave your"stylus cover“ (if your
cartridge features such a device) on and set the tracking force to approx.
1.5 gr. Tighten the counterweight locking screw(g) just so that
you can still slide the counterweight without applying much pressure.
Using a proper
template(i.e. Dennesen, Clearaudio or
my own) the overhang is now adjusted by first loosening screw j ,
then sliding the mounting plate towards or away from the bearing.
Using the aforementioned alignment gauges will automatically result in
achieving a proper"outer“ zero-point(120.9mm)
once you have managed to get the"inner“
zero-point(66.04mm) right.
Next, check the
tangency of the cantilever as seen from above – with the stylus not quite
touching the alignment gauge - and if necessary turn the headshell mounting
plate, making sure the cantilever(not the cartridge
body) is tangential to the record.
Finally,
tighten screw(j)
again.
4.4) VTA-Adjustment
As a starting point you should raise or lower the tonearmblock until the armwand appears to be parallel to the
record surface with the needle in the groove.
Just unscrew the VTA-set screw(f) while
supporting the arm with one hand, then slide the shaft(c) up
or down until the armwand appears about parallel to the record with the
“needle in the groove”. The fine adjustment has to be carried out using your
ears. Raise or lower the arm by small increments until you have reached a
position that combines precise placement of images with an effortless
delivery of dynamic contrasts. Sibilants should come from the same position
in space as the singer’s body.
4.5)
Antiskating
To compensate
for the skatingforce turn the
antiskating-adjustment-disc(a) counter-clockwise
to increase force(initially, several turns
might be required!) and clockwise to reduce it. A good compromise will be
achieved once mistracking occurs in both channels simultaneously while
playing the tracking ability test tracks on the ORTOFON test record(0002 or
0003). In case you have no access to any such test record just put the
diamond on the space between the leadout grooves(or a"blank“record, i.e. Cardas
sweeper record) and adjust antiskating until the arm/cartridge combo wanders
slowly towards the center of the record.
From then on,
use your ears...
4.6)
Adjusting the gap between the magnets
With a decent
light source placed behind your record player it is easy to make out (and
control) the gap between the magnets which facilitates friction-free
movement of the tonearm.
The distance
between the magnets determines the effectiveness of damping both
tonearm/cartridge resonance and"parasitic“ energy,
generated by the cartridge or the turntable.
The smaller the gap the higher the damping and vice
versa.
The gap between
the magnets is altered by first inserting a 1.5mm Allen key into the set
screw that is sitting in the middle of disc(a). Once your
Allen key caught the screw hold it steady while turning the disc clockwise
to widen the gap or counterclockwise to close it.
This sounds a
lot more difficult than what it is..
The gap should
be about 0.3mm wide, enough to allow for a common business card to be slid
in without to much resistance.
If the magnets
were to touch each other during play the resulting friction would cause the
cartridge to skip.
The suspension
thread used has an extremely high tensile strength, a very hard surface and
will not deteriorate over time.
It does stretch(break in) though over
a period of no more than two weeks. Once it has set, only under extreme
conditions(very high temperatures + high
humidity) can the thread exhibit a tendency to"give“ a little more.
So check the gap after a summer thunder storm(no more stretching
after three of those)..
4.7)Silicon damping or not
The arm features the option to use silicon
oil(i.e.SME2013) to dampen the tonearm resonance – predominantly in the axis
of the armwand – resulting in a reduction of the
"wiggliness“ commonly associated with unipivot tonearms. This has almost no
bearing(pun intended) on the tonearm – cartridge
resonance that is a function of the effective Mass
of the arm, the compliance of the cartridge and it’s mass.
Simply dip a
piece of non-magnetic wire(brass, copper...) into the
silicon fluid, wait until a drop has formed and wipe it off onto the thread(near it’s upper end).
The drop will slowly travel down the thread until it finally vanished in the
small oil well where the thread enters the armwand. Repeat until the well is
almost full or, better until you’re satisfied with the sonic results. Common
silicon fluid have no adverse affect on the thread or the bearing in
general, excess fluid can be wiped off using a cotton swab.
The effect
resulting from that procedure depends upon the cartridge used and usually
increases perceived"blackness“ between notes and
solidity of images without sacrificing"attack“ and"air“.
5) The “Fine
Tuning“
Everyone who has to
mount cartridges frequently understands the importance of precisely adjusting
an arm/cartridge combination to release it’s full potential.
Overhang, azimuth,
VTA, tracking force and, if featured, variable damping of the arm movement are
all important parameters.
The overhang
adjustment was described already, nevertheless let me add that a single"perfect“ overhang setting
does not exist. Should you own a lot of records that are cut close to the inner
groove you might consider using 63mm instead of 66mm as your inner"zero point“ – many
crescendo finales of symphonic works could be tracked with reduced distortion
this way.
On the other hand
exist a lot of"pop“-records with no modulation
but leadout groove already where the"inner“ zero point is
located. One doesn’t even benefit from this second distortion
minimum..
Correct overhang adjustment
results in tracing-error-related tracking distortion
of barely more than 0.1%.
Next, the azimuth should be adjusted so that crosstalk is the
same for both channels. This can be done by using a mono record played back via
an X-adaptor or through your preamp switched to mono.
Reverse the
headshell clips on one channel only(switch red and green i.e.)
and adjust for the weakest signal coming from your speakers.
The proper way to
adjust azimuth is by turning the counterweight set screw loose enough to allow
turning the counterweight clock-or anticlockwise until the headshell plate
appears to be parallel with the record surface(as a starting point). If
the resulting image stability leaves something to be desired, turn the
counterweight in small increments clock-or anti-clockwise. This will allow you
to compensate for minor misalignments of the stylus/cantilever assembly.
Once you’ve"hit it on the nail“ a
centrally recorded female voice should be precisely located in space with no
difference in the decay characteristics
between channels.
Starting with the
armwand parallel to the record surface, VTA adjustment should be carried out in
small steps until the best separation between individual instrument in space,
the least amount of"grain“ audible and the best
integration of fundamentals and upper harmonics is achieved
(see above)
There is no"perfect“ position, varying
record thicknesses and a different cutting angle used for most records made
before 1965 necessitate
a new setting for every other record(if you want to get the
absolute “best” out of each record). Stylus shapes are also more or less
susceptible to changes in the VTA – generally speaking, the"sharper“ the stylus, the
more sensitive to changes..) The more time you spend on adjusting the VTA the
less you’ll get to actually enjoy your records.
The tracking force
determines the tracking ability and also the position of the coils in the
magnetic generator. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendation and try increasing
or lowering the tracking force by increments of 0.1gr. Low frequency tracking
ability shouldn’t be lower than 70my. Sound-wise
more relevant is the high frequency tracking ability. The appropriate tracks on
the Shure TT115 test record are helpful to get closer to the optimal tracking
force.
The damping is , as
already mentioned, a function of the distance between the magnets, or, more
precisely, the flux density in the gap between the magnets.
It is to be
adjusted so that the lower registers will be reproduced with control and heft
without loosing the resolution of high frequency fine detail and"air“.
Overdamping this
arm is close to impossible(often the case with silicone
fluid damped arms) but rarely does the smallest gap result in the most
satisfying sound.
The amount of
tightening of any of the arm’s screws has an influence on the energy
transmission and therefore dissipation and should be experimented with.
Generally speaking,
only screws b and f should be tightened well. Screws g, i and j
require some experimentation.
Should you have
any questions regarding mounting/adjusting or technical details of this
tonearm, feel free to contact me via phone or email.
Equally welcome
is any sort of criticism or suggestions for improvements.
