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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
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?
spiritofmusic
828 posts
 
Levels of preamp if you're just using the solitary analog SG-based source.
For those w cdp, streaming, tape, AV...it's not really practical.
Cannot comment on those different units, I have the energiser-only "entry" model.
Stylii slot in and out on a screw-in assembly, c$1k for replacements.
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