SoundSmith cartridges how good?


And how do they compare to others. Forget about cost just thoughts on sonics? Obviously if matched with correct tonearm.
rsf507
@road

To say Peter, Soundsmith, his ‘shop’, employees, etc. are eccentric would be an understatement. Looking at his shop, it’s hard to believe some of the best cartridges are built and repaired there, but indeed they are. But also understand, Peter, from what I understand is not a great businessman, in that he does not charge enough for his cartridges given their quality, let alone their retipping and repair charges, particularly their own products. But also understand that he is more an ‘engineering artist’ who truly cares about the quality of everything he does, whether it is his own products, or repairing someone else’s. He is also very knowledgeable about cartridges in general, and how to build some of the best carts for the money, bar none. Is Soundsmith a bit quirky to deal with? Probably, compared to a much larger manufacturer with divisions of various staff members that fit into a nice little box. That isn’t SoundSmith. So, if that is what you desire, deal with a larger company with slick tongues but lesser quality products as they have to pay for that overhead.

If you had a bad experience, call and talk to Peter himself, and express your disappointment. But it may have been an employee juggling many different responsibilities at the time, under a lot of pressure to get all of them done, and truly didn’t have the time to give you ‘an hour’ to chat. Peter does not have ‘customer service’ representitive. If it was actually Peter you talked to, perhaps the same depending on what you were asking.
I have the lowest-priced (Otello) and would buy it again

When designing a cartridge, the moving coil (MC) principle has a greater ultimate potential than moving magnet (MM) does.

But as moving coils are difficult to manufacture and very sensitive to imperfections, all the good ones are expensive. Cheap moving coils sound terrible, so in the budget territory moving magnets rule.

When building the best possible turntable from parts, there is a strict hierarchy to observe. The most important parts are the turntable mechanics and the motor, then follows the arm and finally the cartridge. It can easily be demonstrated that a modest MM cartridge mounted on a high quality arm outperforms the most expensive MC cartridge mounted on a lower quality arm. This is because the arm is more important than the cartridge.

Observing this hierarchy, it is wise to always optimise your turntable mechanics, motor, arm and even the furniture on which the turntable stands before considering replacing your high quality MM cartridge with an MC.

Another reason to use a high quality MM cartridge is that it allows quick and inexpensive stylus replacements and therefore has a dramatically lower cost per hour of music played. Unlike most MC owners, you don’t need to worry about the condition of your stylus. And if a stylus should happen to be damaged, the party can continue within a minute.


@billstevenson 

Hello Bill. To which other cartridges are you comparing the Hyperion, please? I ask because I'm considering one.
For whatever it is worth, Soundsmith Otello is Moving Iron. I have no idea how much that influences the sound.

Soundsmith offers stylus change at one third of the price of the cartridge so it may be easier to replace than Moving Coil?
I got a smmc2 from SS a few years back.
The stylus guard was not attached quite straight, making the stylus appear to be at an angle (although it was not) I emailed them and Peter was all over it, issuing a pickup for it and returning a perfect cartridge promptly.
He was professional, logical and showed a sense of urgency in making it right.
Dealing with him was a great experience, and that was on what most on this forum would consider to be a cheap, $700 cartridge.