Would Like To Hear From Strain Gauge Owners

I would like to thank all of those who actually read the title of my thread and contributed their opinions on the sound of the SG cartridge, be them favorable or not. I do not however appreciate Raul trying to hijack the thread to fulfill his own agenda. If I had wanted to know the technical side of the SG I would have asked. I wanted to hear from owners as to how it sounded in their systems. Please do no talk down to me Raul. I have been in this hobby for 30 years. I have learned to trust my ears. If I heard 2 cartridges and I like the sound of cartridge A, but dislike the sound of cartridge B, then find out from some obnoxious person like you, that cartridge A does not strictly follow the RIAA curve, but cartridge B does am I now going to force myself to like cartridge B? No No No. If, in the future I ask for friends opinions (and I do consider those on Audiogon my friends) I do not mean you Raul.

I would like to apologize to Peter Ledermann for the rude way Raul kept his endless rantings going on this thread. Peter, it is obvious that many of us feel you are building a great sounding cartridge. Please keep up the good work, and feel better soon.

Dear Slowhand: Thank you for your kindness words, appreciate it.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hi Slowhand,

First, I have heard the Soundsmith Strain Gauge in a show setting, and also in the private residencies of a couple of people. In all cases, I found it to be very engaging. Would you like it? I believe so, but somehow you are going to have to find a way to hear it for yourself. Online opinion is like face-to face opinion, but you know that.

Second, it brings up a larger point. There will always be people with agendas of some sort or another, and there are always those who are experienced enough in a given area to voice a valid opinion. Sometimes the two traits go hand in hand, but sometimes not. Even those who know a great deal about one area of our hobby may know nothing about some other area, even if they purport that they do. For example, I know a little about turntables, but what I know about solid state amplifiers could be poured into a teacup. There are those, however, who would have us believe they know everything. It just isn't true simply because we all tend to know most about the specific area of our interests, and less about passings fancies on the periphery. The moral here is that you need to take most opinions with a grain of salt.

You need to actually hear the cartridge, even if it requires some travel to do it. I believe it will be worth the time and effort.

My two cents, for whatever that's worth.

Agree
Hear it for yourself if possible.
IMHO - it is an awesome product which I would love to have in my collection if budget permit that.
Take my words with grain of salt seen my limited expousure to SG.
However, on both occasions my thoughts were the same - some of the best analog reproductions I've heard.
Trust your ears

I have been following this thread with a bit of reluctant curiosity. I was, at one point, going to chime in and encourage responders to cut Raul a little slack; but only a little. Reason being that as a person for whom the English language is a second language, I understand all too well how sometimes one's statements, particularly those made in writing, can sound more severe and austere than what was really meant; due to a certain linguistic aukwardness. I can't recount how many times I have had to mediate misunderstandings between my Anglo wife and Latino mother; all due to the in-law's less than perfect command of the English language. But alas, after upwards of twenty posts, I think Raul has made his point perfectly clear; language aukwardnesses and all. While I admire anyone who is so passionate about audio as he is, I just happen to think he misses the boat. One comment he makes I think says a great deal:

"...when you play a recording that was recorded with ( before ) a non RIAA eq. standard then you heard a totally different performance of what is in the recording that comes with a different equalization curve."

Absolutely not true. It will be different as far as frequency response goes, but as we all know there is far more, and arguably far more important, to the proper (I deliberately did not use the word "accurate") reproduction of a recorded performance besides absolutely accurate frequency response. In fact, as I understand Peter's comments (and I confess to limited technical knowledge), a deliberate choice was made to make some sacrifices in absolutely accurate frequency response, in order to gain the potentially more musically significant advantages of fewer phase problems. Makes sense to me.

What doesn't make sense to me is how it is possible that one of the most prolific writers on this forum, one with such strong opinions about audio, and the reproduction of sound, one with over seven hundred responses in various threads, has not made one single contribution on the subject of MUSIC.