Would Like To Hear From Strain Gauge Owners

Dear Teres: With all respect, yes the debate is about the RIAA curve not a simple " flt frequency " subject like you states. This is not a debate about trade-offs that I never ignore like you say.

I hope you can uderstand that: RIAA curve subject, a very delicate and " deep " important/critical issue.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Flyingred: Only to clarify, the subject is not if the SG sounds good or bad because this is each person/system dependent, the subject is different and IMHO more " deep " and important than a simple: like me or don't like me opinion. Even you can read my posts and I never say it is a bad device/product/manufacturer because that's is not the issue.

I wish you could understand my point of view on the subject.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Peterayer: here you can read about RIAA eq curve and you can observe on the diagram that the frequency range is: 20-20khz, I think that any one can confirm this RIAA information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

What happens when a phono stage that is highly optimized to adhere to a RIAA curve meets a record that is cut from a non-RIAA standard?
Some stages have the ability to switch between different RIAA standards so I guess not all records are cut the same?

Raul you could not be more wrong. The subject is exactly about how the SG sounds - please refer to the OP at the top of this thread where he wrote:

"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?"

If we take the OP at his word then your participation is not welcome, as you do not own the cartridge that is under discussion. I cannot imagine how much arrogance it takes to re-state the same point of view 18 times (and counting) in the same thread. For some unexplicable reason the words "idiot savant" and "troll" come to mind.

I cannot understand why anyone would obsess about flat frequency response when, for example, most people here know that changing the brand of resistor used to load a moving coil will change how it sounds, yet all measurable parameters of the circuit remain the same.

Back in the seventies, when people didn't know any better, they bought audio equipment on the published specification - the Japanese amps would seduce buyers with crazy low distortion figures and flat frequency responses. Since then subjective reviews have proven to be way more useful. Catch up Raul.