It's really quite rare to see a person doing such a damn fine job digging a hole for themselves. Careful of the core on your way down nandric, I hear it's fairly hot.
Soundsmith having Issues because of COVID
Don't know if there's any way to help but he posted this on AudioAsylum:
I WISH I have the luxury of time, but with this virus and its effect on my many employees and my business surviving this, I unfortunately do not. I look forward as I have done for 50 years to help all my customers, no matter what level of cartridge they have bought - many times not even my designs. But time right now is the final frontier for me and my company. Sales are at ZERO and overhead/payroll continues as everyone is sheltered at home. We are in the epicenter. I sent everyone home 8 weeks ago.
88 responses
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testpilote , There is much wrong with your capability to learn. I just explained what ''someone'' or ''something'' means but you are obviously not able to understand . My arguments are not based on Dutch or other languages but on logic which is universal. Try logic of quantification but I don't expect much from you. You are one of many who have no better arguments than ''straw man'' kinds. That is avoiding arguments and instead ascribing to the opponent ''bad character''. ''Colling names'' is, i think, American expression for your ''arguments''. |
glubson,''nice story but how is it related to Soundsmth story?'' My first post dispute the ''believing'' part of the story. Believing in Peter's capability, integrity, ect. is not the same as believing in Soundsmith as company. There was an French king who stated: ''France that is I''. Besides Peter is not some ''collective being'' . He is as all of us an individual person not by chance with his own name. Because he himself . stated to have .''many employees'' there is, say chance, that someone else retiped the cart. So ''Peter retiped my cart'' will not do. The reason is simple: it is not true that Peter retiped my cart. So if someone else deed it then one should use the quantifier ''some'' which is most easy to explain with: ''someone has stolen my cart''. This is the same as I have no idea who retiped my cart. Strange ''base'' for believiving. All the 'straw man'' constructions against me were actually based on assumption that my intention was to hurt Peter. I used the other example, Van den Hul with the same problem. When people state ''Van den Hul retiped my cart'' what are they referring to? Van den Hul himself or his company? Companies are theso called ''legal bodies'' . Invented by lawyers in order to reduce risk for the entrepreneurs. By separating comapies assets from his private assets. Such that only company assets would be liable for their debts, But company is not able to act. Only humans can act. So each legal body has representatives who act in the name of the company. My point was that believes have nothing to do with the truth. An statement is true or false irrespective from what we believe. |
In case you by chance look at this again Peter, it sounds to me like the Soundsmith fan club. Except for one person. Just ignore him, he’s an odd one. I’m in a similar position with my business, except completely closed and 0 revenue. I understand how you feel. I wish though that I had the fans and support that I hear here that you do. With the reputation of your company, Soundsmith will be one of the survivors. |
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spiritofmusic- AQ4L, there is a fantastic in depth comparison/trial thread on Soundsmiths, esp Hyperion and Straingauge carts On vinylengine.com? Or some other site? Because I'm not finding it there. Link? |
@spiritofmusic Thank you. Been reading your posts with praise regarding the Soundsmiths. Yes, agree that Soundsmith is underrated. I hope they can weather the storm, as well as everyone else affected by this disease. “Go to Whats Best Forum, and on the Vinyl Forum/Carts look for:- Next Step On Soundsmith Fixed Coil Carts“Ciao, Audioquest4life |
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. |
You guys and gals are killing me here. Peer pressure to get another Soundsmith (Hyperion this time), while I was contemplating a Koetsu Onyx Platinum. I feel that Soundsmith is being awful generous to allow all of his distributors to reduce cost for sales. For some, this is a great opportunity, while others will have to sit and wait for the next opportunity, sadly. Based on my readings, I want to just pull the trigger for a Hyperion, but I always try and do mission analysis before such purchases. But, this is a great opportunity for anyone who can take advantage of it. I own the Sussaro MKII and love it. Is the Hyperion that much better? I am conflicted!! |
Hmmmm, nice story worth reading, but how is it related to Soundsmith story? As an irrelevant side note, during one of the of the recent audio shows, I met Mr. Soundsmith. Exchanged a few words, casual conversation, and he did not bite or kick. He seemed just like a regular guy who obviously knew much more than I did. I did not like the music he put on the turntable, though. but I will let that one pass and not take it against him. |
I wrote to ''Durob Audio'' an exclusive hifi shop in Holland owned by Van den Dungen. Van den Dungen was the inventor of the ''Kiseki story''. I asked advice for my Kiseki Agaat which had some coils issue. To my surprise I got an answer from the master him self. He told me that he is searching for someone whom he can trust because he also had ''some Kisekis'' for repair. He is in China the most of the time because he owns ''Prima Luna'' factory there .That , a.o. was the reason for my surprise. So I posted my Agaat to Durob. But after 3 or 4 months I asked very polite about my Agaat and his answer was that he lacked the time for this ''adventure''. So I asked my Agaat back because I found someone else for the job. This job was done in Hungary. Now is it not curious that he deed not ask Van den Hul for his Kiseki's or some other known re-tipper? He made it clear that he needed to know whom exactly he should trust his carts. |
nandric, You may really need to let this one go. You are getting deeper and deeper and further and further. Dmage control is in order. Yes, you are right, probably none of the designers have retipped some cartridge, but they are the face of the business and they get identified as that business. millercarbon nicely explained everything in one of the posts above. Not to mention that there is a number of people on these threads who do not consider English their first language. Invoking that in an argument is really trying to hold on to a straw, man. |
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? |
@nandric, I can 'only' speak of my 1st hand 'actual' experience, and assuming you are as knowledgeable as you present - in the world of QA - consider this Objective Quality Evidence (OQE). The rebuild of my Soundsmith Paua was delayed because of a work backup that Pete had, and that Peter rebuilds every top-tier Soundsmith cartridge. Retips are unlikely to be performed by Peter (unless there is a particularly difficult cartridge) and the lower cost Soundsmith cartridges such as the Carmen which rebuilds at only $199, are done by his staff. I bought a Carmen as a 2nd cartridge for that very reason, knowing that when it comes time to rebuild the turn-around will be faster. But, for my Paua I am willing to wait for the "Master-Builder". |
Chakster, where are you from? I’m in St.Petersburg, Russia @spiritofmusic Covid-19 and oil prices together killing our economy and this must be the hardest time ever in 20 years (disaster for small business). |
Chakster, where are you from? Commiserations if you are doing worse than most. The collapse of the oil price is crippling Iran and Nigeria especially, adding insult to the injury of Covid. Yes, you could say this thread is a First World problem...so what if an audio company goes bust, noone will starve, there are thousands of other carts you can buy. It was that Peter Lederman posted publically of his woes, and it's chimed with a lot of people. I run two small self employed therapy clinics, have had to shut and let two associates go. If I fold for good, I won't starve (just), and therapy will always exist. For me, I absolutely value the small, customer-centered business, in everyday life as well as audio. I view Peter as that rare combination...dedicated, traditional, value-minded, and approachable. The world of audio is mortally wounded if Peter folds. Yes, the price gougers and bling merchants will survive, charging their $200k for tts, $50k for arms, $25k for carts...they'll thrive in the post Covid, Asian-centered hyperinflationary priced ephemera non reality. But Peter, bringing a taste of the upper class to the middle class, will be a huge loss. And thus this thread was born. Genuinely good luck to you and yr compatriots. |
Covid-19 situation ruined business almost in every country for everyone, even for self employed like myself. I wish SoundSmith business quick recovery and with support from people like you guy he must be fine sooner or later, where else you can ship your cartridges? SoundSmith product discounted with 25% now, so buy and support if you like this brand so much. But don’t forget that almost every company in this world suffering from this horrible situation. People are dying, until nobody died at SoundSmith i think it’s not so bad. I hope they are safe, the news from NYC is horrible, indeed. But i hope US Economy is strong enough to support business when it’s over. In my country they do not support private individuals and do not support business, everything corrupted and our economy depends on oil prices only, we’re in 1992 again but without hope for a better life and democracy like it was in 1992. I got no penny from our government. What’s the point of this topic, i did not get it ? Who is not suffering from covid-19 situation ? |
Miller, I'll resist the urge to tell you to get the SG...but get the SG! lol The only thing I'd advise is, leave a little budget for a LPS. This really transforms the cart's fortunes. Put it this way, I'm a Rush/Black Sabbath/Genesis guy at heart. And my LPSd SG w 6 stylus absolutely compels. But in the last 5 years, critically because the SG is such an honest uncoloured (but naturally colourful) transducer, it's allowed me to fully sate my love for Miles and Trane, and any amount of classical. I've just polished off an 11-lp DG boxset of Beethoven string qts...the time just flew by. Straingauge, and Soundsmith generally, totally up there w the best...and in some ways unique at what they do best. |
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.... |
@nandric Interesting that you chose to ignore the point that your behavior is rude. Also that your point that you bring up has no relevance to the PURPOSE of this thread. Rather that you choose to denigrate a company that others value. Kick a good company and man while they are down. That is how you do things? Valuable insight into your character I would say. |
(addendum) Names and identity. Names assume some bearer of the name. Names have no meaning but only refer. Knowing an name does not mean to know anything about the person. That why names are called ''not predicative'' . Now what does the statement ''Peter has retiped my cart'' or ''Van den Hul has repaired my cart mean? They obviously don't mean that someone else deed this work because we would then say Herman deed or simple '' I have no idea who fixed my cart''. Is this so difficult to grasp? |
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noromance, I stated my assumption that neither Peter nor Van den Hul do those repairs or retips by them self. Both have some or many employees. I can't understand that some persons have difficulty to understand this assumption. Despite the fact that English is not my native language or that this assumption is incomprehensible. The simple negation of my assumptions with arguments would be sufficient. But I have seen no arguments at all. Instead there are the so called ''straw man arguments''. My statement was not clear (aka ''understandable'') . I ''failed in my initial comment'', my English is not ''native'' while I also accused without cause the incriminated persons. My assumption now is that despite your ''native language'' you are not able to understand an simple English sentence. |
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. |
@nandric This thread is about one of our well regarded audio companies in this hobby and its fight to survive and continue to offer its services to people who WANT them, and VALUE them as a company. Why do you come in and crap in a thread with a tangent line of discussion that has no RELEVANCE to the topic at hand? Very poor behavior. |
Ok Nandric, my intention was honourable in drawing attention to my dislike of your inferences. But since you're happy to hide behind what I call "badge of honour" or "truth as a weapon" subterfuge, I'll come straight out w it. You're inferring PLederman is being disingenuous in "claiming" he's laying off his employees, boo hoo, what a sad, sad story, etc, you say. Indeed you're inferring he does all the work himself, or maybe minimal help at most. His story is confabulation or downright deceipt And that his sob story related here is subterfuge to generate sales. You just can't say it as you really mean it, and hide behind ad hominem attacks on me for my choice of language. Sad. So, I challenge you again. You provide proof that your take is the correct take. Otherwise I'll reasonably assume you're just another civilian throwing stones at greenhouses. And for the record, I don't give two figs if Peter is laying on the story a bit thick. He has commercial rents, state taxes, local taxes, sales taxes, insurances and utilities, and maybe some wages packages to cover. I do too w both my businesses at zero fee income. So please, provide evidence Peter is lying or misleading us. Or find another pastime. And please, no circular philisophical Gordian Knots from you. I've already untied the last one neatly. |
nandric, Did you really think that any of the items available in multiples and relatively easily accessible are made by one person? There is, or at least was, a long video on youtube about Soundsmith. It might have been promotional, but it was informative, too. It took you through the Soundsmith office and all that. You could see the person assembling a cartridge, bins with parts, basically eveything. Employees were not hidden at all although the person talking the most and doing the least in that video was Mr. Soundsmith (Peter). For all I know, a person currently building a certain cartridge may be even better at that task than Mr. Soundsmith himself. Nothing wrong with that. He is the man behind the business and the face and name in front of it, but I do not expect him to have built every cartridge on the market. I do suspect he was involved in discussion and design of each of them. |
sprititomusic, ''Meanings are creature of darkness'' . I quote American philosopher, logician and mathematician Quine. What you don't understand may be caused by unclear statement from your opponent or by your inability to understand what is stated. According to me you limited your argument to what you self can understand. What kind of criterion is this? |
Well my other assumption is that correct argumentation should consist in refusal of the assumption, say, Nandric your assumptions are not true because … (the arguments). I don't understand what the fact that my English is not ''native English'' has to do with my assumption. The same apply for my ''accusation''. Such ''arguments'' are called ''straw man'' arguments. One is not reacting with arguments but by ascribing to the opponent some ''bad intentions''. |