Soundsmith Straingauge SG-200 cartridge system

While I appreciate deeply the pro's and cons of varied designs, which are far less varied than the listening preferences of audiophiles, those that indicate that one MUST listen to a particular product at length to create a long term opinion are correct in my experience.

One experience I had with England in the home of a well known audiophile, engineer and reviewer who initially very much disliked the SG in his system, was monumental. After disliking it very much after 120 seconds, he suggested an experiment, likely to prove to me how bad the Strain Gauge is. We would play a CD and LP of the exact same classical performance, and compare. After 5 minutes of the CD, we played the Strain Gauge. As long as I live, I will never forget the confused expression on his face, as he then hurriedly transferred the LP to his new $8K magnetic "favorite" cartridge on his adjacent table, only to have the notes sound as if they were being ground out between some Metal gears. He turned to me and apologized, saying that if "anyone had told him that after 40 years of listening to magnetic cartridges, he had become biased to where he could not hear something so much better, he would have thought they didn't know what they were talking about".
This experience proved to me once again that we do have a long term acoustic memory of a sort - as well as a bias - sometimes so much so that it makes an unbiased hearing of something different very difficult, if not impossible.

While I would never dispute someone preferences, the comments about lack of harmonics implies technical inaccuracy in so far as tracing what is in the groove. With the levels of detail the SG is capable of, I would rather suggest that the non-linearity due to poor groove tracing of most magnetic cartridges CREATES harmonics, much like the non-linearity of tube gear. I have measured it - which is a simple task. If someone claimed that, I would agree - the SG reveals, but does not add. Being capable of reproducing a square wave from a record with little ringing or roll is clear evidence of that. The crescendos re-creation with no congestion is also evidence of that - and the physics support it real tracking capability. It is everyone's cup of tea?? Absolutely not. But those who have purchased it have largely indicated to me that "the musicians have finally arrived in their listening rooms." That makes my day every time I receive such an Email. Nothing is perfect. But the SG is unique.

Peter Ledermann/Soundsmith

Dear Slowlearner: Good England experience.

+++++ " This experience proved to me once again that we do have a long term acoustic memory of a sort - as well as a bias - sometimes so much so that it makes an unbiased hearing of something different very difficult, if not impossible. " +++++

this is something that happens almost all the time between LOMC biased listeners when hear the MM/MI alternative for the first time and normaly they don't give the " time " to this MM/MI alternative and frequently they don't even made the right MM/MI cartridge overall set up with the same care as they took with their LOMC favorite ones.

I try hard to be not biased to the magnetic cartridge alternative over the SG one, even I know and I prefer the quality performance of DVD-A against any magnetic cartridge.

I posted that I don't see any reason why the SG can't handle the " harmonics development " that as you posted came with the cartridge habilities to " stay in the groove " the tracking cartridge habilities that means lower or higher distortions ( depend on its tracking habilities. ) where these tracking distortions have and develop its own harmonics.

The first time I heard your SG I can't detect any tracking problem because that was not what I was testing ( was not in my place but SD ones. ) but LP tracks that I used at my place as part of my overall audio item testing process that I know in very precise and clear way.
That very first time with your SG cartridge was a learning session where what I detect was frequency deviations more than harmonics problems and I detected way before we compared against the Olympos that showed a lot lower frequency deviations/distotions. We tested both cartridges with almost the same LP tracks that I know as good as my hand fingers.

Nothing is perfect in audio always we find out trade offs and if it's true that SG signal pass through less phono stages ( no inverse RIAA eq. for example. ) that always degrade the cartridge signal it is true that our ears ( especialy mines. ) are very sensitive to frequency deviations that makes that some of the very top magnetic cartridges sounds more " natural ".

IMHO and thinking in " high voice " maybe the SG cartridge self deviations could be ( to me ) less " important " with a different/better SG self electronics. I don't know the SG electronics design so I'm only " thinking " about, I " know " that that SG electronics are not perfect and always could be up grade it. I can be wrong but I think that as designer you are not totaly satisfied in the SG today status and I hope that in the future its quality performance can lower or disappear its today performance " problems " in favor of the music listening home experiences.

Opinions are always that: opinions. Even with all the " problems " that surround the magnetic cartridges ( less and lower in the MM/MI field. ) I still prefered against the SG, at least for now.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul - what phono stage did you use when you listened to the SG.

...the comments about lack of harmonics implies technical inaccuracy in so far as tracing what is in the groove.

That cannot be inferred from my comments and it's demonstrably untrue: a cartridge is involved in more than just groove-tracing. Distortions and information loss occur everywhere in the signal path. For example, the strain gauge itself affects the signal (as do the armatures in magnetic cartridges of course). All non-linearities impact signal accuracy - even if the stylus has traced the groove perfectly.

I've no idea what listening biases some equipment reviewer may have but they're of no relevance to me. It's true that audio memories are long and ours are indeed biased - but our biases do not arise from listening to stereo equipment. That's a game for audio hobbyists, not music lovers. Our biases arise from four decades of intent, active listening to live, unamplified instruments and vocals at thousands of performances, in venues large and intimate, here and abroad.

Every stereo we've heard, including our own, falls miserably short of reproducing such music accurately. The SG (the one time we heard it) happened to fall short in the ways I described. Other components fall short in other ways. Each component must be auditioned by a potential buyer to determine whether he/she can tolerate, accept or perhaps even enjoy its particular shortcomings.

Perfect reproduction does not exist, never will. But criticisms from those with good ears and good intentions may be opportunities to improve if taken in the spirit offered. We have found it so, for our system...

Dear Dover: The SG comes with its dedicated PS you can't use it in other one.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.