Tzar DST cartridge on the Schroeder BA (Broadcast Arm) Wow

[Cousinbilly]

Where to start?

The midrange and treble is to die for. Though I really enjoyed my ZYX Universe ll and Miyajima Kansui, this DST thing is in a whole new realm. Never heard piano so crystal clear. Female voice is 'right there', and absolutely no mistracking regardless of how powerful the note. I don't ever remember listening to all four sides of Dead Can Dance, Into The Labrynth. Then listening to side one again. Truly a remarkable album. Dire Straits way too loud, followed by Pink Floyd and Chris Isaak. Had to go count sheep, so today I'll dial in the cart.

The base is better than I expected. Most of what I've read points to 'light' base reproduction. I would characterize it as tight and clear. I tried the DST on my Kuzma 4Point first. With a 13g effective mass, the base really was light. Once on the Schroeder BA, 25g effective mass, all the base returned. If you're thinking of this cartridge, make sure you have a high effective mass arm.

Don't know what else to write. I want to go listen to music, but it's 8am, and my wife is still sleeping. Maybe I should put a better mattress in the dog house?

[Rob]

Where to start?

The midrange and treble is to die for. Though I really enjoyed my ZYX Universe ll and Miyajima Kansui, this DST thing is in a whole new realm. Never heard piano so crystal clear. Female voice is 'right there', and absolutely no mistracking regardless of how powerful the note. I don't ever remember listening to all four sides of Dead Can Dance, Into The Labrynth. Then listening to side one again. Truly a remarkable album. Dire Straits way too loud, followed by Pink Floyd and Chris Isaak. Had to go count sheep, so today I'll dial in the cart.

The base is better than I expected. Most of what I've read points to 'light' base reproduction. I would characterize it as tight and clear. I tried the DST on my Kuzma 4Point first. With a 13g effective mass, the base really was light. Once on the Schroeder BA, 25g effective mass, all the base returned. If you're thinking of this cartridge, make sure you have a high effective mass arm.

Don't know what else to write. I want to go listen to music, but it's 8am, and my wife is still sleeping. Maybe I should put a better mattress in the dog house?

i'm sure you meant "bass" not "base" and i'm not talking about the fish is this the cart Robin Wyatt is bringing in from Russia? I'm a fan of the 'positive scanning' cartridge types, I haven't heard the Tzar but own a decca London super gold and Rowland Complement (née ikeda) and they are special sonically speaking. My one reservation is the lack of any significant compliance in the horizontal plane, making 'arm matching more critical..

[Jtycho]

Very cool. I didn't realize that arm was available yet, it's made for OMA right? I wonder how it would work with my Decca London Reference.

[Cousinbilly]

Hello all. Let's start with an edit: after 10 hours of playing, the bass, and the base, are freak'in amazing. Yes I was originally off with vta, but I think time is also helping. If it didn't get any better, I'd still be in heaven.

Rob, you are correct: this is Robin's and Frank Schroeder's cartridge. The builder is Leonid Sinitsin in Russia. As far as the London Super Gold, and Ikeda, you'll have to research that. The arm is specifically designed for low to medium compliance cartridges. Frank made provisions for multiple cartridges. There is a small weight under the big counterweight. If you remove the smaller weight, the arm will accommodate multiple cartridges. You'll have to get more info from OMA and/or Robin. As far as horizontal compliance matching goes, if anyone could figure that out, it would be Frank. As seen in the picture, the arm is triangular. Maybe this is intentional.

Jtycho, I believe you are correct, OMA has them. Same caveat for the Decca London Reference, research if it's a low compliance cartridge.

Today a friend brought over some Synergistic speaker cables. I like!. Any comments?.

Today saw Keb Mo, Lucinda Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jacintha, New Order (Blue Monday)(yes you read that correctly), Black Sabbath, Rush (first we played the reissue, then the original, no contest, the scratched original was amazing), Supertramp Crime of the Century UHQR WOW!. Yes, more Dire Straits (love over gold today).

[Guest]

So the underside of the arm can slide to and fro for hitting the appropriate null point(s). Then the cart can swivel to dial-in the proper alignment. ??

I am seeing this right?

[Cousinbilly]

Hello Tima.
The actual arm cannot be 'slid'. It is a fixed length.

Let's see if I can explain this:

1) There is a screw going through the headshell. This screw attaches to the cartridge mounting plate. When you loosen the screw, you adjust the tracking angle. I'm a Loefgrin 'B' kinda guy. If memory serves me, this is how my Talea ll was adjusted.

2) The mounting plate, which is under the 'wood' part of the tonearm, has slots. It's through these slots that the cartridge is attached. This is the 'slide' part of the cartridge adjustment. This is similar to many 'headshells'.

3) About halfway down the tonearm, we see a slot. Under this slot there's a weight. By moving the weight closer to the headshell, you increase tracking force. In the DST's case, 3.8g. If you move the weight further back, towards the pivot point, you decrease the tracking force.

4) The arm is a uni-pivot. I am a fan of the uni-pivots (Talea ll, RS Labs A1). I will say this: the shear weight of the arm likely negates any 'chatter' of the pivot point. I hope chatter is the right terminology. I will add, with the turntable presently on a coffee table, between the speakers, and played at really loud levels, there is no blurring of anything. For me this is impressive.

Thanks for the explanation - you made it clear. I could not see the cartridge slots in earlier pic and mistakenly took the slot (yr item #3) as serving their purpose. I do Loefgrin B as well.

Fascinating cartridge. Thanks for ruling it out on a 4-Point.

[Cousinbilly]

Some pictures

[JCOConnell]

Is there any way to set overhang?

[Cousinbilly]

Overhang?

I'm going to start with a story. It's not an answer to your question, but it's a starting point. A long time ago I owned an RS Labs A1 rotating headshell tonearm. I purchased it from Rob at Applause Audio. The store was in Toronto. Rob told me a story, and I later read about it online. The theory was this: No anti-skating. It was the designers opinion anti-skating robs the music. His rotating headshell negated the need for it. You all know about why we use anti-skating. Antiskating, overhang, and offset angle where all moot points. I loved my A1, up until the time my cat knocked it off the table and broke it. Antiskating, overhang, offset angle, and downforce are all interrelated. The tonearm designer calculates some of the stuff, we tweak the rest. For a moving coil, tracking at ~2g, with a microridge stylus, everything is important.

Enter the Tzar DST. 3.8g tracking force. Anti-skating becomes a moot point. Spherical stylus, not micro-ridge, means less necessity for pin-point offset and overhang. Frank set the arm up for the DST, so it's plug and play. How do I know the above is good?, There is no sweet spot on an album, it's all sweet. There is no distortion at the beginning or end of an album. The stylus doesn't care where on the album it is. Setting the arm and cartridge took ten minutes. It sounded great from the get go, and with minor tweaking, it's getting better.

To recap: the tonearm is designed for the DST. Overhang was part of the design. You would need to find out from Robin if your Shelter 501 mkll needs to be slid forward or back in the mounting plate. Maybe you would need a different mounting plate?. I don't know. Sorry about being vague, and not actually answering your question.

[MylesBAstor]

Where to start?

The midrange and treble is to die for. Though I really enjoyed my ZYX Universe ll and Miyajima Kansui, this DST thing is in a whole new realm. Never heard piano so crystal clear. Female voice is 'right there', and absolutely no mistracking regardless of how powerful the note. I don't ever remember listening to all four sides of Dead Can Dance, Into The Labrynth. Then listening to side one again. Truly a remarkable album. Dire Straits way too loud, followed by Pink Floyd and Chris Isaak. Had to go count sheep, so today I'll dial in the cart.

The base is better than I expected. Most of what I've read points to 'light' base reproduction. I would characterize it as tight and clear. I tried the DST on my Kuzma 4Point first. With a 13g effective mass, the base really was light. Once on the Schroeder BA, 25g effective mass, all the base returned. If you're thinking of this cartridge, make sure you have a high effective mass arm.

Don't know what else to write. I want to go listen to music, but it's 8am, and my wife is still sleeping. Maybe I should put a better mattress in the dog house?

Thanks so much for the info! The Tzar is one cartridge that has intrigued me ever since I had a glimpse of it at RMAF. Know Harry Weisfeld likes the Tzar too. As I recall from talking to Frank, the Tzar is based on the old Neumann cartridge that never got much publicity. Interestingly the Neumann was basically used by the record execs in Europe back then (also the new Audio Technica is supposed to be related to the Neumann cartridge too.)

Liked your point too about making sure to match the cartridge to the right arm! Something that sometimes gets overlooked.