Would Like To Hear From Strain Gauge Owners


I would like to hear from owners of Strain Gauge cartridges (particularly Soundsmith owners)as to how you like the strain gauge system compared to previous cartridges you have owned. Is there any drawbacks to the Soundsmith Strain Gauge system?

I am located in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Is there any Soundsmith Strain Gauge owners in the Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana area?

I read the review of the Strain Gauge system on Audiogon by Vac man. It was a very good review and answered many questions for me. I would like to hear from others who also own strain gauge cartridges.

Thanks in advance for any info that you can give me.
slowhand
Dear Peterayer: +++++ " Some phono stages even offer different curves (selectabe by the user)for a more accurate reproduction of certain recordings. " +++++

yes, for Lps recorded before the RIAA standard, as a fact that was one of the RIAA targets: that stop to have so many different curves from different record manufacturers that was and will be a big " problem " because if the RIAA don't " stop " ( thank that they convince to the recording industry all the advantages that will be to take one and only one standard curve for the years to come ) at that time maybe today we could have 20-30 different curves ( from 20-30 different record manufacturers. ) and then we need it phono stages with 20-30 different curves!!!!!!!! to play each one different, my God: could you imagine?

Almost all the Lps you own and the ones that are recorded in this days are recorded according to the RIAA standard eq. and if you want to " read it " you need to read it with he RIAA standard process, Peter the SG does not " read " with the RIAA standard NORM.

It is very simple: if you are " reading " a book that came writing in English for you can understand it perfectly you have to read it in English not in French my friend. Now if you can uderstand this then you can understand that that is exactly what the SG is doing: " reading " an English book in French ( because it does not understand the English language. ), interesting no!. Well this is exactly what you hear/read when you play a LP through the SG device.

Now, please any one of you , if you have any doubt of what I posted or if you can prove that I'm totally wrong please come here an explain in deep why?: thank you in advance.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Dear Slowhand: +++++ " I have never been big on "standards" or measurements.... " +++++

unfortunately if you can't understand about the RIAA eq. standard then it is useless to have a " decent " dialog with you about because ( with all respect ) you can't understand nothing and this is a big big problem: more that you think.

+++++ " I will take a piece of equipment that sounds great to my ears over one " +++++

maybe in other subject I could agree with your statement but in the SG/RIAA standard IMHO your argument is totally out of order.

+++++ " I found one person that owns a pair of Gallo's and has heard the SG on them. he feels they are a great match. " +++++

I respect your friend opinion but IMHO his music sound priorities and knowledge are really and very poor.

Peter we have to grow-up on our audio/music learning curve, growing-up in the right direction.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Dan: Btw, which is your point?, please try to enrich the thread and tell us something " new " and coherent on the main subject, I think that we could learn if you do it.

regards and enjoy the music.
raul.
Raul, my point is that you have shared your opinions rather strongly about your business competitors product in a public forum that is read by people all around the world without once even mentioning that fact. Peter clearly identified himself, why don't you do him the same courtesy?

I have not disputed, nor do I disagree with, much of what you have to say regarding the RIAA curve and the strain gauge implementation.

I completely agree with you. I am not qualified to debate the merits of strict adherence to the RIAA curve, which you constantly tout as one of the major features of your own product. Nope, I won't do it. But I will offer up this link to a thread for those who really want to know other opinions besides just yours.

What Makes a Good RIAA or Line Stage?

That's it, I'm done. For me to continue in this thread will only offer Raul more excuses to hijack this thread even more.
This thread has veered off in a weird direction. Here's my attempt to inject some objectivity and balance.

I own a Soundsmith Strain Gauge and have also had the opportunity of playing The Voice cartridge in my system. Further, I've heard others' Strain Gauges in five different systems/rooms.

What the Strain Gauge cartridge does uniquely is track better, with less groove noise and better transient response than any cartridge I have heard, period.

Talking with Mr Ledermann, I believe this is due to the very low effective moving mass - of the order of a tenth of the best moving coil. With so little inertia, it is inevitable that the stylus traces more accurately. A consequence of the lower moving mass is the cantilever assembly's resonant frequency is way out of the audio band. It is thought by many that what we perceive as groove noise is in fact resonances from the cantilever/stylus assembly.

To shed some light on the RIAA debate - my understanding is that the strain gauge, being a displacement device, has an inherent roll off of 6 dB/octave. Mr Ledermann has made an engineering decision that the cartridge's frequency response is sufficiently close to the RIAA curve that it does not require equalisation within the preamplifier.

So the preamplifier contains only gain stages. This means an absence of reactive components in the signal path (i.e. capacitors - which introduce phase shifts). The argument (to which I subscribe) is that the ear is far more sensitive to time/phase anomalies than frequency response anomalies. Let's face it, even the best "reference" speaker has a response curve that looks like a mountain range - with way more influence on what we hear than a deviation from the RIAA curve!

In my view, RIAA compliance is a red-herring (unless you are promoting a product that has it as its main selling point). Choosing a product on its RIAA performance would be like checking the temperature inside your fridge before deciding what to wear outside.

So, what's the consequence of Mr Ledermann's design choice? I would say better insight, a total absence of "veiling" with remarkably precise image placement and three-dimensionality and a sense of "rightness."

Let me share an experience that I think illustrates the paradigm shift that the Strain Gauge represents. I was invited to take my unit to the home of a highly respected British audio reviewer (he writes for Stereophile plus several UK audio magazines). On intial hearing he was quite uncomfortable because "it didn't sound like vinyl."

He played some reference LPs and then compared them to his current reference - a Japanese moving coil. He then fired up his custom modifed CD player, which he regards as the best in the world. He played the same reference cuts on CD then on the Strain Gauge. His conclusion was the Strain Gauge was better than his CD player and got closer to the master tape than anything else he had heard.

I think this illustrates the difference between the Strain Gauge technology and all other phono cartridges. I can understand some comments about it sounding like digital - you do get the detail and speed of digital but it's way better than CD - it is less fatiguing to listen to (none of the hardness of CD) and there is a delicacy and nuance in the higher frequencies that is totally absent from CD.

On many LPs, The Voice runs the Strain Gauge very close. It doesn't quite have the same ability to extract the last detail and nuance and it isn't quite as explosively dynamic. However, due to it having the same stylus and cantilever and a lower effective moving mass than a moving coil, it shares the same traits and strengths as the Strain Gauge.

I believe it is the "softening" effect of the magnetic induction process with The Voice (remember the Strain Gauge is literally measuring precisely the undulations in the groove whereas there will always be some third order distortion product in a magnetic circuit) which leads some audiophiles to prefer it, however for me, the Strain Gauge is the more faithful and compelling component.

Finally, I would say that the Strain Gauge is not for everyone. I have a friend who listens mostly to 70s/80s rock music - he brought along a Yes LP, and that sort of compressed, distorted music doesn't really utilze the strengths of the Strain Gauge.

I would recommend anyone interested to listen and make their mind up for themselves. I had the advantage of hearing and deciding I wanted one before there were reams of audiophile drivel posted online about the product.