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Anyone have experience with Soundsmith’s strain gauge?

After watching Peter Ledermann’s excellent presentation on phono cartridge design I am now quite interested in his Strain gauge cartridge. Unfortunately reviews for the product seem to be sparse and are from nearly a decade ago. I’m wondering if anyone here is an owner of such a system and if they’d be so kind as to share their experience with it. I currently have the Aida cartridge from their high output MI lineup and I want to know if the sound really is a big step up from what I currently have. 
thermionicvinyl
tablejockey
3,941 posts
 
I did have one negative observation about the Strain gauge...

It has that corny 1980's blue LED! That would be the first thing I would try to disable. It's 2020, are there STILL fans of the blue LED on audio equipment?

Blue LED's remind me of stuff made in...oh that's another thread. BAN the Blue LED!
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Tablejockey, you are supposed to paint your turntable with phosphorous:)
spiritofmusic
828 posts
 
I love my blue LED...really. For me, it's just another touch of unorthodox to go w my LT air arm, direct rim drive tt and 93 kg Stacore pneumatic/mass loading support.
spiritofmusic
828 posts
 
So Thermionic, can I answer anymore Qs you might have re SG?
thermionicvinyl OP
5 posts
 
Yes, I was wondering if there’s any sonic differences between the versions of the SG. I see you can pay more for a fancier preamp and you can pay even more and get one from their reference line. The other question I have is how exactly the stylus replacement works? It is like the Ortofon cartridges?
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