Soundsmith Progression: MIMC Star > Sussurro Mk II

I appreciate all the comments so far. I agree that the Soundsmith cartridges will play up as you improve your system around them--I did not fully appreciate what the MIMC Star could do until I upgraded my speakers and cabling. The MIMC Star stepped right in stride and is really letting me see what the new components are capable of in my system.

I finally installed the cartridge tonight. I first checked its frequency response with the Feickert Adjust+ disk. At 1,000 Ohms loaded on my Pass XP-15, there is a rise in the upper octaves. I lowered it to 250 Ohms and the upper octaves have leveled out nicely. But there is a small trough from about 300Hz to a few KHz. I'm going to assume this is by design. If my cart is representative, going to 1K and beyond will really accentuate the high end at the expense of a more even FR, but YMMV. 

This has probably been the most informative cartridge post I’ve read in a while. Thank you everyone. I currently have a Zephyr mk3 h/o with maybe only 100 hrs (which I enjoy quite a bit) and was on sale and within budget after my recent TT adventure. Short of 20 years of Technics 1200’s and dj carts, I’ve only had a dedicated TT (Isokinetik 1.5) in my man cave for a couple of months and much of this is new territory for me. My McStack has been fed digital previously. I have been half heartedly looking around at an upgrade after a recent purchase of a Pass XP17. Considering something low output because of the versatility of the Pass. I was originally poking around online for more info on a Zephyr MIMC.. then saw Aida’s were on sale. Wasn’t sure if that would be enough of a jump then searched around a bit more and found Sussurru’s on sale (That Sussurro price is almost too good to pass up).. then this thread.. stage 4 analysis paralysis. My wallet is telling me to slow down and wait for the next round of sales. Are there actually large increases in performance between these models or more on the incremental level? Current arm is an OL Onyx, but I have an Audiomods v6 currently ordered.

Based upon your post, I'd say you have already answered your own question.

@slaw , where did you settle on the VTA for the Sussurro? Is the cart body level, or tipped up the rear a bit?

@tonyptony ,

It's a close call with my old eyes but I'd say it's level with a regular weight lp.

Thanks @slaw. Mine appears to be the same.

Hey Soundsmith team,

Hope all is well and health and life. Its been nearly two years since I and a few other Soundsmith owners have purchased either Sussaro MKII or Hyperion. For me, It’s been a great ride and I play the Sussaro cartridge a lot. What else am I to do during these strange quarantine times. My Benz’s do get some love from time to time, but the musical listening qualities with the Sussaro are addicting. 

How many hours do you have on either your Sussaro or Hyperion? 
I think I am roughy at 1200 hours and starting to hear slight degradation in performance. Compared to either my Benz LPS, Benz Ruby Z or Transrotor Merlo Reference it’s definitely sounding somewhat distorted. Did all of the normal audio geek troubleshooting things, clean stylus, verify VTA, overhang, etc., and all of that is good. In fact, the Fozgometer shows no channel deviation in the Analog test disc tracks 1 and 2 for channel testing. I also experimented with load, all the way up to 47k down to 100...nope, it’s that signature sound of cartridge degradation happening. Been there done that many times. How many of you have reached the end of useable service life with your Soundsmith? 
It’s time to send it off to Soundsmith for a retip. 
Please provide updates living with your Soundsmith and what tracking forces and loading you settled into. Happy listening😀
Audioquest4life 

Hey,

I have around 2500 hours on my Sussurro MkII, still sounds great. I have settled on VTA being ever so slightly higher at the back of the cartridge ( may be because all of the hours). I recently bought a demo Zephyr MIMC * ES lo, for when I send the Sussurro back.

Steve

Ended up selling my VPI and going in a different direction. I'm now enjoying a Sempersonus TE-2 idler-type (inner rim drive) table with a 12" TW Raven arm and a Charisma Signature One cartridge. I like the MIMC Star but felt it never achieved the same level of performance as the ART 9 it replaced. It did a few things better but the ART 9 is an exceptionally well-balanced cartridge and a great value for money. The Charisma, while paired with an entirely different arm and table, is clearly in another league all together. I doubt the Sussuro can touch it though they are priced similarly.

@dodgealum,

Just wondering.... assuming you install your own cartridges, did you ever notice the StP distance being off on the VPI?

My point was going to be, with my Classic 3 Sig SE, it was. I can only assume, their are many VPI owners out there that don't realize this and take for granted their VPI tt's are performing at their best.

So if your StP distance was off, your evaluation was off as well.

crickets............

I usually set up my own tables but for the VPI HW set it up in the shop at Cliffwood so I’m guessing he got the StP distance correct.

???

Nice turntable dodge.