How Does the Soundsmith

Dear Doug: +++++ " the Voice is very extended, detailed treble that is remarkably clean and therefore easy on the ears. " +++++

with the right set-up this Teres statement is a characteristic of top MM/MI performers. These type of cartridges ( like I posted several times. ) IMHO have very low overall distortion when you compare against its " brothers " LOMC ones, I repeat lower distortion not " collapsed harmonics " or smoothness ( soft ). Other MM/MI characteristic that Teres point out is: " more articulate ", I can add " better articulate " than almost any LOMC cartridge in any price range.

The term " romantic " that Mosin posted seems to me more an " artefact " of somewhere ( audio links ) the audio system than a cartridge characteristic and a result of the overall audio system performance.IMHO and through sevral years of attend to live music events I never experienced a " romantic " presentation ", any one of you can attest about: hear a single/alone instrument ( live ) like piano, guitar, horn, voice, etc at no more than a normal home audio system seat position ( 2.5m/3.0m ) and you will see what I'm talking about. Some kind of music could tend to sound " romantic " maybe at 30-40m.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

The Universe is a very good cartridge but it is not among the finest available as inferred in an earlier post. To that extent I agree wholeheartedly with Teres.

Let's be very clear on this as folks having very limited experience with other products have furthered this erroneous agenda in these forums.

For the record, I own a Universe and enjoy the product despite its' limitations and shortcomings

I did not mean to denigrate the Universe. It is among the very best that I have heard and was my reference for a number of years. I happen to prefer the Voice in my system and with my tastes. The question was how the Voice compares with expensive MC's. I think it compares favorably.

Raul,

I received that Ortofon MM you recommended but I've not posted on your MM/MI thread because I haven't actually heard it yet. I wouldn't think it useful or courteous to post about something I haven't heard, would you?

Slowhand,

We heard the Voice in three rooms at RMAF, including Mosin's. (His table was our best-in-show BTW, though that was despite the arm and cartridge he was using, not because of them.) The Voice did the things I described in each system, as its bigger brother did once also (with the variations I mentioned). Take our impressions FWIW to you.

What we heard was a cartridge that's exceptional value for the money (as Mosin said) though not quite capable of the harmonic clarity we hear in the various (much costlier) LOMC's that I mentioned. (Aside to Mosin, the Olympos is a whisker on the romantic side of neutral, even Jonathon Carr will tell you that, but it's certainly clearer and more resolving than the Voice - as it should be for the price!) To our ears those LOMC's have played with less harmonic congestion than the Voice in any reasonably compatible system. I believe that addresses the question you asked as best as I can.

Chris,

Point taken about the plasma tweeters and in theory I agree. Of course there's more to designing a cartridge than just reducing moving mass, else my ADC XLM would be amongst the world's elite (it's not, trust me).

Your sense of articulation, timing and harmonics has always differed from ours (Paul's and mine). That's been obvious since the day we received our first Teres table. Multiple conversations since then have only confimed those differences.

As you know, things we report hearing have not always been confirmed by you and your listening friends. We react to certain sounds differently, in any system or room and even in the same system and room during the same session. I suspect this underlies our differing perceptions of the Voice as it has with other components, including some of your own manufacture.

The physical pain in Paul's face from distortions other people don't even notice is quite real, as multiple Audiogoners who've heard demoes in our system will attest. But that doesn't make what he hears any more or less "real" for the OP than what you hear. All any of us can do is describe what we hear, honestly and as best we can, and let him draw his own conclusions. Trying to prove each other "right" or "wrong" won't take us anywhere worth going.

Dear Doug: I always say: system, ears and music priorities dependent.

regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.