Soundsmith having Issues because of COVID

Apologies if I sounded snipey.
Nandric maybe needs to rephrase his post, it seemed to be a little accusatory.

spiritofmusic,

Quote marks wasn’t used here in the sarcastic way by Nandric. Not all people are native English speakers.

What a shame if whom ever re-tipper we believe in is closed
because of this damn virus. Who want to wait for unknown time
till his ''precious'' will get a new stylus or cantilever/stylus combo? 
But Peter himself declared to have ''many employees'' . I wish
Van den Hul deed the same. So the conviction that ''master
himself '' deed the ''repair'' would be ,uh, more convincing.
I noticed many second hand Van den Huls listed on many sites
so I can't believe that he himself made those carts nor that
he does all ''retips'' himself. Besides I mentioned elsewhere
why I don't believe that he does those jobs.
Does those ''Sounthsmith believers'' really believe that Peter
does all the retips or repairs? 

https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/transformer-use-soundsmith-mifixed-coil-designs Here is how to use transformers, and with my designs.

Peter Ledermann

Likely to order my repl Straingauge stylii a few months early

Hang in there. I met you in New York demoing a Strain Gauge on a VPI Prime and Harbeths.

Peter,

I just got a re-tipped Denon 103r, this winter, it's fantastic!  I'll support you and buy an MC cart in Portland, Oregon.  Hang in there,

BG

Peter
I hope that you, your staff and your business come out the other side of this mess strong and healthy.

Im curious about the 470r load requirement for your low output carts.....
What is the recommendation when using a SUT driving into the normal 47k preamp input? This would present less than 470r to the cartridge.

regards 

Excellent Peter. We fans of Soundsmith are fans for life. I'm absolutely smitten by your Straingauge that I've owned since 2013. It beats two models of Lyra and two of Transfiguration that I've previously owned, that is high praise indeed.

And if feedback here and on WBF is anything to go by, your Hyperion is also seeing off competition from higher profile alternatives, some 70-100% pricier.

Keep doing what you're doing.

I very much appreciate the posts. It has taken us about 5 weeks to try to operate this business by remote control. There are some delays, understandably. One of my employees is acting as courier between all the homes, and all parts/repairs are being aged for 3 days between each location so there is NO transference of Covid-19. We adopted strict internal disinfecting protocol here in early January when I saw this coming, and dismissed everyone home about 8 -9 weeks ago.
It is costly for me personally in EVERY possible respect - I have paid everyone full salary and continue to do so. I now personally work even longer hours 7 days a week. But Soundsmith has always been about two things: Making great music possible in your homes and creating a safe, pleasant and secure place for talented, dedicated people to work.

The above post is correct; in the hope of making it through, we allowed ALL of our US dealers to advertise 25% off. A LEVEL playing field, - we have enough war everywhere - we don’t need more. Let’s pull together. They also will not ship outside the US to protect our export market and we will not honor warranties for those that try to trick them into doing so - every product has a serial number and we know who buys what. We need to protect our markets everywhere or there will be little for us outside the US when this is over. Fair is fair. Our export markets also have major financial troubles.

We are building to order, so there will be delays, but the above comment is correct ~ it is a great moment to buy a Soundsmith design. Our 6 top designs are discounted 25%; LOW OUTPUT - Hyperion, Sussurro, Paua, Zephyr MIMC Star, HIGH OUTPUT The Voice, and Aida. Please bear in mind our low output designs require 470 Ohms minimum load, and will NOT work with most "transconductance" or "current" preamp designs due to their low inductance requirement. If someone owns one of those preamps, we CAN build special order cartridges that are .1 Ohms, .1mV output. Thank you for your posts and considering helping Soundsmith survive and get through this awful point in history. And from me personally - be careful when they let us out of "voluntary house arrest"; the risk may well be much higher then, and I believe it might be that way for a long time. It is said that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance" - so great thoughts, vision and go with love - we have all tried the alternative. - Best - Peter Ledermann

They are...literally slide in and out.

On the Straingauge, are the stylus assemblies user replaceable, as for a MM type?

Just swapped emails w Peter. I didn't push for any info on issues. He was happy to provide repl stylii at $950 each (Straingauge has gotta be THE high end cart bargain). I think I'll sort a couple of stylii, should keep me good to Covid-2025 or 2026, lol.

No go for me on those 3 retailers...Straingauge SG200 not sold.

Right now the major dealers Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc and Music Direct have 25% off sale of the upper-range Soundsmith Cartridges.  I am going to guess, that dealers do not purchase these cartridges out-right from Soundsmith, and that there is some amount of consignment.  So, right now is an opportunity to obtain great cartridge's at a nice discount, that can be rebuilt at a fraction of the cost (making them a good investment), and support the brand. I own both Carmen and Paua, and recently had the Paua rebuilt - it came back with an 'upgraded suspension", and with aural memory being what is it, did sound better especially with 1000-ohm load versus 470-ohm. 

Feeling lucky, sent in a cartridge about 7-8 weeks back and just got notified yesterday it’s ready to ship. Pd for repair as soon as I received the e-mail and hopefully it will be shipped on Monday for an early week delivery! Very excited to hear Peter’s work.

Fascinating video. You gotta love guys like Peter...in the game more as an enthusiast made good than anything else.
When I see the price gouging and stratospheric pricing at the top, w laughable claims to justify sheer greed (a soon to be released $25-30k cart made w gold wires stored in a brass bell for 35 yrs...yeah, right!), it makes me hugely pleased I decided to invest w Peter
And willing him to survive

Eerily prescient...........
Art Dudley at Sound Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd948px1230&t=506s

Let's hope so. It's a poorer world without guys like Peter.

Can’t his employees work from home?   With a wait time of a couple of months to have a cartridge retipped, there must be a back log of work that needs attention.  These are sad time for a small business.

Soundsmith isn’t in NYC, but not far- about an hour north. Not that far from New Rochelle which was an early NY community hit by the virus. NY has been hit hard, but we seem to be over the worst. That doesn’t mean it’s still not terrible, but what it means is that hospitalizations and daily fatality rates are declining, NY is also stepping up with aggressive antibody testing, but like the virus testing, you have to ‘qualify’. Soundsmith, like other small businesses, should apply ASAP for PPP loans. 

Sure, understood. I was due to get a Straingauge stylii replacements/energiser upgrade in 12 months (based on current useage). Maybe I'll bring that fwds.
Does anyone know if Peter is mentoring a l/t replacement for him when he retires? Or does Soundsmith cease when Peter stops? My Straingauge has been a total gamechanger in my system.

Peter never said he was going out of business. He was stating so everyone knows that his business is having a very  difficult time financially. I myself also sound like that at times. Closed with no revenue, employees let go, and rent to pay. Doesn’t mean he’s  giving up. But supporting businesses right now  with sales is very important and would be very helpful.

The way I see it is that Peter is living Covid in a way few of us can understand. NYC is now the Covid epicentre, beyong Wuhan, Italy, Spain, UK. It must be shattering to live and work there atm.

So, to have zero fee income, lose your staff, be stuck w fixed outgoings (rents, stock, salary contributions, next year's tax etc) AND to be aware of people dying around you, and to see a stellar reputation and solid gold 50 yrs audio business teeter on the brink...must be absolutely distressing.

In the UK, I run two businesses, and w zero income I've had to mothball them and let my associates go. It's not a good feeling in any way.

Let's all hope this thing passes or becomes a manageable concept. We have casualties amongst people. It will be doubly sad if many great businesses like Soundsmith also die.

you mean Soundsmith are going out of business? sorry for the stupid question though.

isochronism,

I clicked on a random cartridge (Irox Ultimate) just to check.

Once the page opens, scroll down below yellow highlighted area. You will see "location/shipping method" which, I guess, you should choose. Immediately under it is an orange button "add to cart". It should take you to PayPal, if I got it right.

I agree, it is a business worth supporting and I am glad I bought their cartridge. No regrets whatsoever.

https://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges/special-order/irox-ultimate

The fact that 20 companies wrote to the organizer of Axpona strongly
suggesting he cancel any 2020 plans should tell you how the industry
as a whole is doing. 

OMG such sad times. 

Soundsmith is not alone in this.  I think that if boutique audio is going to survive this pandemic they are going to have to re think the way they market and distribute their products.  Who knows how many of these brick and mortar dealers will even re-open after this is finally over. 

Hi Glubson, I looked at his site (before posting) and again just now to see if I missed purchasing information and only saw associated dealers in all (most) states and countries. Perhaps direct purchase is still possible. Thank's for the information. His' is a business to support and keep alive!

isochronism,

"It's too bad that Peter doesn't sell direct and we could all purchase a cartridge from his stock at list price."

I bought a cartridge from Soundsmith about a year, maybe a year and a half, ago. I bought it on their website. Has that changed?

I asked on another forum in response to his post if that was possible. Hopefully he will answer and I'll report back.

It's too bad that Peter doesn't sell direct and we could all purchase a cartridge from his stock at list price. I would be very happy to even though I have no use for one currently. We don't want to lose him!!

I am very sad to hear this. I run two small businesses myself in the UK, and my income is zero as well.
I have some idea how Peter feels.
Feels like we're all in the lap of the gods...
Good luck Peter, hoping v much to do business in 2021 (Straingauge repl stylii/energiser upgrade).

But time right now is the final frontier for me and my company.

I've always had good service from them, 15 years ago, he
really helped me out on a repair/upgrade.

Doesn’t sound so good. ZERO is better than a total product recall, though.

Regards

Glad you posted this as I just shot them an email checking the status of an order placed 2 weeks ago for an in stock replacement stylus for a Grace, I knew when I placed the order that it would likely be a wait and am glad I did knowing that they could use the business in these times. Hoping we can all get back to normal sometime soon and will wait patiently. Wishing Peter, his employees and his business the best.