2. analog
  3. 153370-116481

EMT and SoundSmith

Hi Goners
I'm looking for a medium output cartridge and have come down to either EMT or SoundSmith. Has anyone tested both of these brands and can compare and opine? More than any specific cart comparison, I'm really more curious to hear about general build quality and overall characteristics of these two brands. I have read plenty on SS but do not see much on EMT carts particularly since they restarted production. 
The phono stage has 56db of gain so the 1.05 output of EMT carts or 1.1 of SS should both work great. The carts of most interest are the JSD 5 or 6 and the Nautilus. 

Thanks in advance for the insight. 
gmercer

Showing 1 response by gmercer

gmercer OP
193 posts
 
Thank you one and all for the feedback. Still undecided but am leaning towards SoundSmith due to the rebuild retipping service. That's a real money saver over the long term. In effect the cart will last for as long as you want it.
What I liked about EMT is that when Brinkmann had a cart they utilized EMT carts and modified. That says something to me, as a fan of Brinkmann. Plus Swiss engineering, and all that jazz.

Unrelated to their carts today and this discussion but when searching around for more info on EMT it looks like they won a technical grammy award in 2017:
https://www.emusician.com/artists/emt-and-dr-harvey-fletcher-to-receive-technical-grammy-awards

More to discover