2. analog
  3. 133781-46

Gonna have to ditch the Soundsmith Carmen II

I've given this cart the benefit of the doubt and then some, but it's going to have to go. 

the sibilance on s's is just to much. The sound isn't distorted, just way louder than the rest of the vocals. This happens to one degree or the other on all records with vocals. Sometimes it's barely noticeable sometimes it hard to bare. other than the sibilance I love the sound, I love the live nature of the music.  so I hate getting rid of it. 

So so the things I've done and made sure are dead on:

alighnment - that means SRA, VTA, TF, Azimuth, anti skate (per,SS), platter level, checked mounting hardware, checked tunntable . . .etc

my Denon 2x20L doesn't do this.

it may be there is a bad combo with some piece of equipment or loudspeaker and it just doesn't jive with the rest of the rig. 

My system:

VPI prime
Parasound JC3+ Phono pre
PAD phono cables
Decware integrated SET tube amp
Zu Omen Def MKII with Radian tweeter upgrade. 

So the question is what cart, around $1k will give that live dynamic sound, tracks well, but does emphasize the S's?

ones I'im interested in but have no way of hearing:

Ortofon Quintet Black
Audio Technica ART 9
???


last_lemming
last_lemming OP
639 posts
 
Just received my Carmen cartridge back from Mr. Ledermann.  In short the sibalence has been eliminated!

According to Peter he checked my cart against his reference cart and reference albums and while he could not detect any aborrant behavier he indicated he made some minor tweaks, which I feel was not because of any issue with the cart, but more for my sake and my system synergy. He also suggests I adjust my tracking force to accommodate his tweak.  I'm not sure what specifically was done to the cart but it worked. 

So so in short I'm very satisfied, and I would like to personally thank Peter for taking personal interest in a customer and making sure his customer was happy. 

This is is how you keep customers for life. 
lewm
13,348 posts
 
If your problem reappears at some point in future, I would next consider the new tweeter, as per John Tracy's post.  It could be a little "hot" by nature or poorly matched to the midrange/woofer for efficiency.  (Meaning if the tweeter efficiency is greater than that of the midrange driver, the result can be a "tipped up" tonal balance.)
helomech
1,738 posts
 
What tracking force are you using now? I’m curious because I own this cart and regardless of setup, I haven’t succeeded in getting it to sound quite as good as I expected for the price.
last_lemming OP
639 posts
 
You must remember he did a minor tweak to mine, I’m not sure what he did but he asked me that I track at 1.8g to 1.9g. However after doing that I found it still sounded best at 1.6g,  so that is where I am tracking right now.  

 What are you not getting out of it what you think you should?
helomech
1,738 posts
 
^Mostly tonal balance. It seems that bass is weak when the treble is correct and vice versa. I can't find the VTA sweet spot. I don't have this problem with other carts. Maybe I just need to look into capacitance loading.
More to discover