Soundsmith having Issues because of COVID

(addendum) Names and identity. Names assume some bearer
of the name. Names have no meaning but only refer. Knowing
an name does not mean to know anything about the person.
That why names are called ''not  predicative'' . 
Now what does the statement ''Peter has retiped my cart'' or
''Van den Hul has repaired  my cart mean? They obviously don't
mean that someone else deed this work because we would then
say Herman deed or simple '' I have no idea who fixed my cart''. 
Is this so difficult to grasp?

I for one will be glad if Peter is the skipper, and others are sailing the ship. So many legendary Japanese cart artisans have retired or died, and taken their secrets w them...if Peter has trained successors to carry the flame, thank the Lord. I never wanna have to consider another brand.

@nandric

Interesting that you chose to ignore the point that your behavior is rude. Also that your point that you bring up has no relevance to the PURPOSE of this thread. Rather that you choose to denigrate a company that others value.

Kick a good company and man while they are down. That is how you do things? Valuable insight into your character I would say.

Close enough. Now back to Soundsmith.

I've been mulling over (dreaming about) a Hyperion for a while now. The more I learned about Ledermann and his whole design approach the more convinced I got that this is the way to go. Only no rush, my Koetsu is fresh enough. 

But now with the sale and all I am having another look. Once again this has me looking at the Strain Gauge. Not sure if I saw it before but this time I noticed this review by Uwe Kirbach with incredible high-res photos. https://sound-smith.com/sites/default/files/PDF%201-14%20Soundsmith_ImageHiFi%20engl._0.pdf

When I look at the Strain Gauge, it sure looks to me like he has ribbed it for vibration control. The cartridge pins are mounted in a block of some milky translucent material, and there looks to be another layer of it between the cartridge body and top mounting plate, leading me to believe its some special vibration control magic going on. 

The SG is designed with screws that enable both VTA and azimuth adjustment. Both are probably better done on the arm but not all arms are set up for this and its just really cool he's engineered these right into the cartridge!

The stylus is user-replaceable. Loosen one tiny little hex bolt and out it comes. The SG doesn't have the glamour of a Koetsu. It has to my eyes something better: the look of a purpose-made lab instrument.

The SG strikes me as another technology that by rights should be front-page news all over the audio world. Like DBA. Like Tekton. What they all have in common, the technology is a little hard for the average audiophile to understand. Uwe explains it quite well. Short and sweet. Read the review.

Amazingly, the SG would actually cost less than if I was to upgrade to the Hyperion. Because the SG doesn't require a phono stage I would sell my Herron. And they're 25% off right now. Dang. This just might be doable....

Miller, I'll resist the urge to tell you to get the SG...but get the SG! lol
The only thing I'd advise is, leave a little budget for a LPS. This really transforms the cart's fortunes.

Put it this way, I'm a Rush/Black Sabbath/Genesis guy at heart. And my LPSd SG w 6 stylus absolutely compels. 

But in the last 5 years, critically because the SG is such an honest uncoloured (but naturally colourful) transducer, it's allowed me to fully sate my love for Miles and Trane, and any amount of classical.

I've just polished off an 11-lp DG boxset of Beethoven string qts...the time just flew by.

Straingauge, and Soundsmith generally, totally up there w the best...and in some ways unique at what they do best.