Strain Gauge Preamp/ Phono. A new standard?

The strain gage cartridge requires its own special phono stage, since "signal" is a varying resistance, not a voltage that is put out. Perhaps they build the RIAA into their pre-amp? Just a guess.

If you view the video from Mr. Lederman, he states that because this strain gauge cartridge is a displacement device and not a velocity-sensitive device, no RIAA equalization is required. Here's more info from their website:

http://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges/sg.html

I had strain gauge cartridges long ago, including the Win and the Panasonic. I saw them as quite good, but not reaching the realism of my Decca Londons. There are many benefits in the various grades of the Soundsmith phono/linestages, but it does take a commitment to this idea that I am not willing to make.

I very much appreciate Audiogon's great coverage of the Soundsmith Strain Gauge Phono system, and for having the courtesy of posting this hopefully helpful and informative response:

The Strain Gauge is a DISPLACEMNET device, not a velocity sensitive device like all magnetic cartridges.

Velocity sensitive devices have a FLAT playback response, so they require RIAA EQ to invert the RIAA recording characteristic used when making masters for record production. RIAA has an interesting evolution; Mr. Galo has written a wonderful explanation of how, and why it evolved and changed over the years:
http://www.smartdev.com/RIAA.html

Displacement devices have an INHERENT 6dB/octave curve, very similar to the RIAA (not an accident, BYW)....they DO deviate slightly from the RIAA at two points, BUT, we do NOT correct for this, for doing so would ruin the beauty and simplicity of the device; the one super clean gain stage between you and the music we designed is almost one too many. More than one (to "fix" small anomalies) would be death to the magic. We do compensate passively for the low end roll, as required.

For those who may feel that absolute compliance with RIAA is mandatory, I would suggest that they take a microphone and laptop and make a response measurement for flatness at their respective wonderful listening positions. They may find that not only does it deviate far more than "less than one dB" as we do, but that "correcting it" with additional circuitry puts so much in the signal path that they join the ranks of anti-magicians.

Peter Ledermann/Chief Engineer/Soundsmith Corp.

Hi Peter, the RIAA curve is flat from 318 uS to 3180uS. So there are about 4 octaves that will be spectrally incorrect. That is a lot bigger error than any room I've tested. BTW I've run plenty of room curves over the years- especially at shows. I agree that you see big variations, but not like this (at least not so far anyway).

I've also produced a variety of LPs over the years and I've found that only 1 db variations in the test pressing can be audible (this is easy to hear over a frequency spectrum as opposed to a single frequency, BTW).

So- do you offer an equalizer?