Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge taken to the next level


After a long pause, my analog was reinstalled 6 weeks ago.
This pause gave me the chance to go to the next level on my Straingauge.
Atm, Straingauge is a great performer, but IMHO it’s let down by it’s cheap and nasty 24V DC wall warts.
Initially I upgraded these to Red Wine Audio Black Lightning battery psu which gave a great upstick in SQ, but at expense of ongoing unreliability.
So 9 months ago I commissioned Peter Downs of Alternative Audio in SW of U.K., www.alternativeaudio.co.uk
to make a bespoke psu to the cart.
And after many prototypes the finished version, with specialist transformer, oversized choke and best choice of caps etc, was delivered and installed.
Together with a sister psu to replace the stock one on my Trans Fi Salvation rim drive motor.
6 weeks of burn in, and I’m in Seventh Heaven re the SQ impvts these psus are bringing to the party.
Will report more at next post. But I can’t praise Peter enough in what he’s created, it’s truly taking my analog to the next level.
spiritofmusic

Showing 2 responses by craig

spiritofmusic:

I am curious as to how many hours the stylus lasts.  Any idea or estimate?  Also, are you running the SG directly to amp or through a preamp (if latter, which one, and if not, which model of SG did you get to avoid the preamp).   Any comments in this regard?  THANKS
Thanks spiritofmusic!

How do you like the Degritter?  How often do you clean the records?