Also, to what degree is "jitter" the result of the moving mass of the cartridge versus the design and quality of the tonearm and associated bearings? As @millercarbon knows, Mark Baker of Origin Live makes a strong case for his composite arm tubes and sophisticated bearings in properly controlling the cartridge as it traverses the grooves. I'm sure moving mass is important--makes sense--but wonder how so many moving coils extract performance at least on par with what Soundsmith achieves at similar price points. As mijo says, how low is good enough? I'm thinking reducing moving mass is a worthy goal but not as definitive as Peter might argue. Maybe focus on the quality of the arm is more important?
EMT and SoundSmith
Hi Goners
I'm looking for a medium output cartridge and have come down to either EMT or SoundSmith. Has anyone tested both of these brands and can compare and opine? More than any specific cart comparison, I'm really more curious to hear about general build quality and overall characteristics of these two brands. I have read plenty on SS but do not see much on EMT carts particularly since they restarted production.
The phono stage has 56db of gain so the 1.05 output of EMT carts or 1.1 of SS should both work great. The carts of most interest are the JSD 5 or 6 and the Nautilus.
Thanks in advance for the insight.
I'm looking for a medium output cartridge and have come down to either EMT or SoundSmith. Has anyone tested both of these brands and can compare and opine? More than any specific cart comparison, I'm really more curious to hear about general build quality and overall characteristics of these two brands. I have read plenty on SS but do not see much on EMT carts particularly since they restarted production.
The phono stage has 56db of gain so the 1.05 output of EMT carts or 1.1 of SS should both work great. The carts of most interest are the JSD 5 or 6 and the Nautilus.
Thanks in advance for the insight.
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- 10 posts total
Thank you one and all for the feedback. Still undecided but am leaning towards SoundSmith due to the rebuild retipping service. That's a real money saver over the long term. In effect the cart will last for as long as you want it. What I liked about EMT is that when Brinkmann had a cart they utilized EMT carts and modified. That says something to me, as a fan of Brinkmann. Plus Swiss engineering, and all that jazz. Unrelated to their carts today and this discussion but when searching around for more info on EMT it looks like they won a technical grammy award in 2017: https://www.emusician.com/artists/emt-and-dr-harvey-fletcher-to-receive-technical-grammy-awards |
@gmercer I am interested in SS for two reasons. One, as you mention retipping service for as long as you want. This has become more interesting to me since my Transfiguration Proteus crapped out after 450 hours. That was an expensive 450 hours. And second, his system at CAF this year was as good as any room I heard. He was using two front ends, his strain guage system and a Hyperion and both sounded as pure and engaging as analog can be. |
- 10 posts total