My new Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge

I deeply appreciate the depth of the comments being made here (with an obviousl exception of one participant). In the past 40 years that I have lived with/created/compared the Strain Gauges I have made and those that have been made by others, I have become all too aware that nothing is perfect. It is always a balance. At the recent Axpona show where I was asked to do a seminar on cartridge design (available on Vimeo.com - under "Reproductive Private Parts - of a phono cartridge) I attemtped in a limited time to explain some of the challenges. One interesting moment in our show room was playing a new test pressing that was said to be wonderful. With the Strain gauge, the peaks were distorted. I immediately thought I had not set the Schoeder arm up well, but decided to play some other reference disks I brought. No problem. Hmmm.

Then played the disk with the Hyperion. No distortion.

It seems that the SG continues to share the space between that of a research device for analog, and that of a delightfully revealing and differrent animal. For 5 days out of the month, I prefer listening to the Hyperion. All of the other time I am dragged over to the revelations of the Strain Gauge system.

Being a designer, it is hard to not be tuned in to listening for flaws - anywhere and everywhere they exist. For me, it is to the Strain Gauge's credit that it drags me back to the music most of the time, which is what drew me in way back when.

Peter Ledermann/President/Soundsmith

Spiritofmusic, really glad you are so open-minded compared to most, who have to say "it is technically, engineering-wise, and sonically perfect and beyond reproach (because I bought it said under the breath).

That you love it is great....that it brings you closer to the music is great. Enjoy, have fun, I hope you continue to love it.

How much did it cost?

Omsed, the installer is coming over to fine tune the cart. I'll talk about apparent bass leanness with him.
My opinion is that the cart is so quick, bass notes have substantially less overhang than any other I've had in my system, and this could be construed as lightness. Anyhow, it's an area that I'm keeping an eye/ear on. Personally, I'm loving the lightning speed of my analog rig now, feeling it matches the neutrality of my excellent cd player.
Price is $4300 in the UK, c$6500 US.

This is the first time I have read this thread, and I did so from top to bottom, as I recall reading about Peter's SG designs in a UK HiFi magazine about ten years ago while attending an audio show in San Francisco and taking a lunch break at a nearby restaurant with friends. Passed by Michael Fremer (not too tall) and Richard Vandersteen (taller) in the halls a couple of times.

A few comments about the above "discourse" come to mind:
- Raul, you can't write English to save your life; I can't understand what the hell you're talking about and even why you get so bent out of shape about another designer's approach to cartridges. So what? Give it a rest; there is no RIGHT or WRONG in this industry. It's technical design and execution for ART'S SAKE!
- If there was as much passion among the general public as there is expressed in this forum about the technical aspects of components designed to reproduce the artistic and emotional content of music, there would be audiophiles on every street corner. But, sadly, such is not the case.
- Spiritofmusic: I don't understand why you have to have anyone come over to "fine tune" your cart. That seems to be utter nonsense to me; you should be able to master this tuning yourself if you are going to own and operate such componentry. I would never own audio gear that I would not be comfortable learning, commanding and controlling all adjustments for.
- When the above examples of equipment focus take center stage over the real-time enjoyment of music, "Houston: We have a problem..."
- I am a hypocrit for even venturing to respond to this thread in the first place, therefore, carry on...

Steve, The dealer is actually coming over to install a new cart, the one in my system being the shop demo version, so a little beyond 'finetuning' (my incorrect choice of words).
I'll freely admit, my knowledge of cart setup is poor (and engine tuning too, hence my handsomely paid car mechanic!), and since this cart needs v.careful adjustment of azimuth in particular, I'm happy leaving it to the person I'm handing £4300 over to.