Soundsmith having Issues because of COVID

spiritofmusic-

AQ4L, there is a fantastic in depth comparison/trial thread on Soundsmiths, esp Hyperion and Straingauge carts
Go to Whats Best Forum, and on the Vinyl Forum/Carts look for:-
Next Step On Soundsmith Fixed Coil Carts
...to cut a long story short, the Hyperion and LPSd Straingauge come out very highly rated indeed.
More evidence as to how underrated Peter's creations are.

On vinylengine.com? Or some other site? Because I'm not finding it there. Link?

spiritofmusic, check out my system. It would not be the first Teres to sport a Strain Gauge. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367  Active Shielding power supply upgrades were huge. So I totally get what the power supply mod can do for SG. And I noticed the same thing with my system, where it had to hit a certain level and then out of nowhere classical, jazz, whole bunch of stuff suddenly becomes enjoyable. What can you tell me about the different stylus profiles?

Close enough. Now back to Soundsmith.

I've been mulling over (dreaming about) a Hyperion for a while now. The more I learned about Ledermann and his whole design approach the more convinced I got that this is the way to go. Only no rush, my Koetsu is fresh enough. 

But now with the sale and all I am having another look. Once again this has me looking at the Strain Gauge. Not sure if I saw it before but this time I noticed this review by Uwe Kirbach with incredible high-res photos. https://sound-smith.com/sites/default/files/PDF%201-14%20Soundsmith_ImageHiFi%20engl._0.pdf

When I look at the Strain Gauge, it sure looks to me like he has ribbed it for vibration control. The cartridge pins are mounted in a block of some milky translucent material, and there looks to be another layer of it between the cartridge body and top mounting plate, leading me to believe its some special vibration control magic going on. 

The SG is designed with screws that enable both VTA and azimuth adjustment. Both are probably better done on the arm but not all arms are set up for this and its just really cool he's engineered these right into the cartridge!

The stylus is user-replaceable. Loosen one tiny little hex bolt and out it comes. The SG doesn't have the glamour of a Koetsu. It has to my eyes something better: the look of a purpose-made lab instrument.

The SG strikes me as another technology that by rights should be front-page news all over the audio world. Like DBA. Like Tekton. What they all have in common, the technology is a little hard for the average audiophile to understand. Uwe explains it quite well. Short and sweet. Read the review.

Amazingly, the SG would actually cost less than if I was to upgrade to the Hyperion. Because the SG doesn't require a phono stage I would sell my Herron. And they're 25% off right now. Dang. This just might be doable....

Relax, guys, nandric is merely misinformed. Specifically, he does not understand where the real value is. He thinks the real value is in who did the work. What nandric is complaining about is the exact equivalent of grousing that Ray Kroc didn't really make his Big Mac. "Billions and billions defrauded" nandric would say.

The value of a Soundsmith is not that Peter Ledermann actually does all the work. The value of Peter Ledermann is that he is the one smart and clever and inquisitive and persistent and productive enough to figure out what work needed to be done. What materials to use. In what way. Exactly. Down to the smallest detail.

Peter Ledermann in other words invents, and improves. He takes good ideas and then puts in the hard work of figuring out how to make them even better. Then he figures out how to make them cost-effectively enough for other people to actually be able to afford them. AND THEN he goes on to carefully select and train others to do the work he himself has figured out how to do. 

So now you know nandric. I won't dance around it. Not me. Not at all. I will say it straight to your face: you insulted and impugned his character. You in your weaselly language all but called him a fraud. I'm just taking the high road in assuming why: you don't understand basic economics. Well, now you do, you can see why you were so totally in the wrong.

Either way, you do owe the man an apology.