Peter, I can safely say, yr fans weren't expecting that.
Beautiful.
Beautiful.
Soundsmith - Thank you to everyone.
Beautiful
Too beautiful to go back to sleep
The morning sprite before the sun
black silhouetted trees that edge the world
respeak stillness as night’s undone
in quiescent twilight day is birthed
So perfect in its offering
infinite outcomes by love conceived
Immaculately separate from our suffering
To taste the dew that’s offered up
One would have to sacrifice
The comfort of one’s darkened view
The tradeoff believed that will suffice
So it’s a crow that breaks the dawn
Unravels peace that must unwind
And signals end to mornings birth
To usher deeds of manunkind
Too beautiful to be believed
timeless in its continuing
Miraculous to be conceived
So fragile in its offering
Peter Ledermann
66 responses Add your response
Pretty good, Peter. Reminds me of my favorite poem, Wordsworth's Daffodils I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. |
My love does not set me
free But holds me down upon my knees Upon the dirt, amongst the shoots Hidden here within the trees
To weep so deep inside of war To cry so loud outside of love Till I become a river flow Which into all other rivers go
If I could cry to water Spring To wash each seed and whisper (grow!) And thus become part of nurturing So all the spring my heart could know
Through deepest soil my soul bestowed If I could feel each shoot break free I would feel the ice and snow Recede into eternity Peter Ledermann |
Peter, just to reiterate, we don't all go around on Möbius Loops of steel trap logic. Some of us actually need to live a bit. And listen to music. So, ignore the shrill noise from some, and be assured you, your employees, your operation...however it's run Lol...really totally valued by those of us who see in you a true artisan, happy to share, and producing products examples of which we can all afford I'll aim to keep a bit more contact w you prior to sorting my SG repl stylii in short order. |
Wish I could say the poetry surprises me, but not from Peter. Not after hearing his a record is a beautiful woman metaphor. Oh and I found the SG thread over at whatsbestforum.com and found a surprise in there from Peter. See, over in the Soundsmith having issues thread, a discussion inexplicably now closed, I had said the Strain Gauge has the look of a purpose made scientific instrument. So what a pleasant surprise to read Peter in the other thread saying there are two camps, the musical instrument camp and the scientific instrument camp, and his SG is the first to be mostly in the scientific instrument camp. To you Peter I will say how your work reminds me of a story told among Porsche owners. It is said the German people have a word for when functional engineering is elevated to such a sublime level it merges with and becomes art. I don’t know the word. Don’t even know if the story is true. But it would be nice if it is. We would know what to call what you do. |
MC, you do know that after WW2, when Germany was in ruins, and the British Civil Service went over there, expecting the population to be on it's knees, what they found were the people literally rebuilding their car factories from the rubble w their bare hands. Within 5 years, they were already ahead of us. By the 80s, esp w the release of the VW Golf, they were in a whole different race. And today, the Germans spend whole weekends visiting their car factories, seeing the synergy of engineering and lifestyle as a patriotic display. Peter in his own way is taking a hyper engineering approach. Not for him the typical Japanese warm Koetsu signature of the typical European cool and collected Clearaudio signature. No, w the Straingauge, Peter is going for the straight resolution angle. Because w resolution comes natural warmth, lifelike speed, dynamic contrast, tonal density and differentiation, and timbral accuracy. Despite him being American, this is almost German uber engineering married to art...basically, life. And the Straingauge is the closest source component I've owned that's got me closer to the life of performances on lp. |
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No, w the Straingauge, Peter is going for the straight resolution angle. Because w resolution comes natural warmth, lifelike speed, dynamic contrast, tonal density and differentiation, and timbral accuracy. That's what I gleaned from Uwe's review. That's what I thought was supposed to be the goal of all our gear- to reveal. Not to be warm, or cold, or any particular way at all. To not even be there. That at least to me is the ideal. Which is why its in my system description. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Of course we never truly get there. We fall short, always. But that's the aim. Then yes a lot of records, even some treasures, will be revealed to be less than perfect. Oh well the recording engineers have all the same problems. Some do better than others. Even if they do a really good job it can still be screwed up later- look how many crap pressings there are! But that still leaves the magic. Here and there. Which when you do come across it, always seems to me, the less your system imposes the more of the magic you get. So yeah my impression is the Strain Gauge is the bomb. Figures. Like everything else. Whenever I narrow it down to the best, its nowhere to be found. By which I mean no way to audition. You just have to take a pass.... or bite the bullet. |
Maybe some people have not looked hard at my last name. Ledermann. My parents were holocaust survivors. My family tree goes back in Germany to the 1500's on both sides. And there were some very fascinating and innovating members; in law, government, science and more. My Grandmother (Lisbeth Ehrlich) was a blood relative of Paul Ehrlich I am told, who cured millions of people with his synthetic antibacterial, long before the discovery of penicillin. He eschewed formal education, preferring to intuit the chemical and microbiological world. I seem to have inherited a drive for preference of intuition over formal education as well, and a deep desire to understand the natural and mechanical world. That drive has aided me in my developments, discoveries and work. The SG DOES have more of its DNA in the camp of scientific instruments than musical instruments like magnetic designs must, due to the design. They are mandated that way due to the moving mass. But by no means think the SG is easy to build due to low mas - it is anything but. It is far, far more difficult to build. It took me years (many) to make it a repeatable, predictable design specifically because it is far more of a scientific instrument being a displacement measuring device as opposed to a magnetic velocity generator. Is it ALWAYS the best cartridge to play? No - as is being said some pressings are less than perfect and a magnetic design will sound better. Many systems I have set up for customers have two arms, an SG on one and Hyperion, Sussurro or Paua on the other. For myself, I play the SG on about 90% or more of my recordings in part because I am addicted to it. But very often, I use the Hyperion for many and especially certain records. The Hyperion is the closest Magnetic design to the SG in the world. That explains some of its popularity I believe. If I had to only live with the Hyperion, .........no tears. Peter Ledermann |
Thanks Peter, You and your like are what is needed to drop in to this forum now and then (which it appears you do). Being so far away, I am not in the US flow of audio. I have heard of Soundsmith, but not the cartridges you create. Apart from your web site, I have not seen anything reviewing the “strain-gauge” circa 2019/20. I see the usual parade of cartridges, but will be asking for further information from you once we are clear of this virus and back at work, for those survivors. Lovely poem, like a delicate watercolour. Well done and though there are many other creators in the world of audio, we need more like you. |
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There is a love that is not love It is not the kind that makes you weak It makes you rise so far above It takes your breath, it makes you weep
There is a love that runs so deep Makes all you do seem merciless It implores your soul rise from its sleep And all life’s plans superfluous
There is a love you cannot touch It is not a kiss on fevered brow It gathers all but won’t hold much And hitherto sworn you’ll disavow
But it exists outside of time Yet there’s nothing that’s not held within It cannot die, it needs not find what it gifts it does not rescind
One cannot look away or fake but makes you stop and gather heart you cannot give, you cannot take it’s the reason to stop, the reason to start
I met a woman who had this love It was loaned to her and to keep her well It was not hers, but she stole it not To guard her soul from living hell
Steel shining swords in crosses were Across her eyes and down her breast And o’er her head in midday sun And I that sight forever blessed
I know she lives - it matters not It makes the world make sense of pain Redeemer of the senseless caught Makes every struggle not in vain
For the sake of others, I could see For safekeeping’s sake she held it true It was not for her, it was not for free It was not for me.
It was for you. . . (peter ledermann 4-27-20 |
@retipper Mr. Ledermann, i enjoyed your two RMAF lectures, very interesting. It’s nice to have industry professionals on our forum to discuss tech stuff. Sadly Jonathan Carr does not post on here as much as he did before, but it was so great to read his opinion about some classic cartridges from the legendary designers and legendary brands. Watching your lectures i see you’re admire MI design over MC. You’re the one who personally refurbished and re-tipped thousands of different cartridges (old and new). I;m pretty sure there are some models that inspired you to go further in cartridge design. Watching Art Dudley’s (R.I.P.) SoundSmith factory tour i see you got vintage equipment in your collection. What about cartridges ? I am interested mainly in classic cartridges from the golden era (70’s/80’s). Without making a free advertising for new cartridges and modern brands it would be nice to discuss some OLD GOLD from the past, discontinued models or disappeared brands. Could you recall some of the greatest, clever design from the past (MM/MI or even MC). I’m pretty sure you learned a lot with those carts from the past. It’s good to share some knowledge about clever design that surpass the time test (if we can imagine we found NOS, UNUSED or MINT condition). I’m curious to read your opinion. *From Russia with Love |
Thanks for your post. The problem with vintage cartridges is that unless they have been traveling at a substantial fraction of the speed of light, they have aged - and part of that depends on the environments they are/were in, and also on the specific formulations used for damping materials. I have even seen NOS EPC451 SG units (Panasonic) where the ultra thin aluminum cantilevers are mainly corroded - just by time/environment. Damping materials are VERY tricky. I have the distinct advantage of personaly having rebuilt many, many thousands of cartridges. THAT is an education for which there is no equal, or shortcut. I have seen some damping materials in MC designs turn to cracked stone in 2 years, ones I assume worked extremely well when new. Others are 40 years old and work perfectly. I am very, very careful to use formulations in my designs that are proven to last 20-30 years or more. Are there a bit better materials that have somewhat better visco-elastic properties right out of the box? Sure. You bet. Will I use them? No. I get away with NOT using those unproven materials because when you reduce the moving mass dramatically as I have done and cannot be done in MC designs, damping becomes orders of magnitude easier and more efficient. A win-win. So there is no telling - even if I DO tell you of some I love, how you will find good ones? It's like hooking you up with an old girlfriend who is looking for love that I have not talked to in 30 years. I have no idea what time has done to her. Its certainly done a hell of a job on me. So forgive me my vagueness - I just don't want to misdirect. What I CAN tell you is what a wonder it is to find a well designed MM, MI or MC that HAS been traveling at 3/4 the speed of light, and after rebuilding, it plays so well........ Peter Ledermann - (NOT aging so gracefully in certain respects) |
My sweet old girl Is lost to me again In a world Of her mind Chasing Smells Butterflies Other beach puppies A ragged stick Torn from a rootball By the tide Chasing the rainbow But not the bridge Tide rips move Tennis balls in the Sound She flips her tail At the triumphant turn The salt in her coat Sparkles like diamonds In the setting Summer solstice Sun |
I love it. Yours?? Beautiful. I get it. https://www.sound-smith.com/memoriam Mine for Sprout. She stuck around after my wife died to take carer of me. Now I have Azul - a mystical Blue Merle Aussie who got loose at 12 weeks old and trekked more than half a mile through brambles inside of 80 acres, to pass out on my porch. Best part - a psychic told me two months before, that a new dog was coming into my life. I asked him where did I have to search - where to go to find it? He said - "Do nothing. He is coming to find you." I cannot describe how bonded we are. He came to rescue me and my soul and heart after so much loss. Peter Ledermann "Proof of God is necessarily limited to a triad - 100% Kona coffee, Cheese and Dogs". |
@retipper Very diplomatic answer, but i’m curious about inspiration, as i can see your friend Frank Schröder is definitely inspired by classic tonearm design from the past, his Model B looks like very old Grey Research and related tonearms. As far as i know B&O developed their cartridges before you signed contract with them to improve the line of B&O carts. This is a predecessors of SoundSmith own line of cartridges? I have seen some damping materials in MC designs turn to cracked stone in 2 years, ones I assume worked extremely well when new. Many of us here collect vintage MC cartridges, turntables and tonearms and rate them high even in comparison to the new ones. Suspension of some brand new cartridges sometimes fail quicker than old ones. One example of LOMC cartridges with suspension that never fails is FR-7fz designed by Ikeda-San. A low compliance heavy monster, but Air-Core Coil, we have huge fan club of this series on audiogon. Others are 40 years old and work perfectly. At least you said that, fair enough. It is true, because there are great cartridges that passed the time test and works just fine. Those were made with the right combination of materials. Some materials are no longer available like Beryllium cantilevers (here is a Gold-Plated Beryllium that was an ideal material according to the old AT engineer later replaced with Gold-Plated Boron on another version of AT-ML180) or Hollow Pipe Boron cantilevers with ultra low mass or like this Grace LEVEL II BR/MR with micro ridge stylus tip mounted without glue (a tip mounting hole made using a laser beam). or this short gemstone cantilever invented by Dr.Tominary of Dynavector. Or that strange gemstone cantilever/stylus made from one piece of diamond by Sony (model 88D). Way different technology that we do not see anymore in modern design. Ikeda LOMC cantilever-less design or cantilever-less Decca MI or Victor Direct-Coupled MC recently improved and used by Audio-Technica ART-1000 when you reduce the moving mass dramatically as I have done and cannot be done in MC designs, damping becomes orders of magnitude easier and more efficient. A win-win. So there is no telling - even if I DO tell you of some I love, how you will find good ones? I will. I have museum of vintage cartridges on my records shelf. But this is not the advice for me to buy what you liked, it is something that inspired you with your huge experience in rebuilt. It’s about clever design. Something rare and interesting.
I’m curious, what is a well designed MM/MI or MC from the past (not new) in your opinion ? I’ve never sent any vintage cartridge for rebuilding yet, just because my favorite vintage MM, MI and MC are just fine, i use time machine to travel back in the 80’s to find them. |
Obviously Strain Gauge designs, although none have survived well, which is why I don’t work on them. Early Fairchild Stereo units. Some still are fantastic. Stax, for its cleverness, Dynavector 23 and similar, due to low mass (but terribly fragile), some Ortofon MI designs, Grace, and of course the B&O, upon which my line has evolved from. I have to say that as a person, VDH has befriended me from the beginning, and upon meeting and seeing my work, asked me "Are we competitors, or colleagues?" I said it would be an honor to be considered a colleague; so he said "GOOT!" and shook my hand heartily and said - "What ever you need - always call me!" I have never taken him up on that, but I am always warmly welcomed by him whenever we happen to meet. The generous invitation was more than I needed or deserved. Indeed a gentleman and innovator, at a minimum. There is much to the man. Peter Ledermann |
I have to say that as a person, VDH has befriended me from the beginning, and upon meeting and seeing my work, asked me "Are we competitors, or colleagues?" I said it would be an honor to be considered a colleague; so he said "GOOT!" and shook my hand heartily and said - "What ever you need - always call me!" Brilliant! :)) Dynavector 23 and similar, due to low mass (but terribly fragile), some Ortofon MI designs, Grace, and of course the B&O, upon which my line has evolved from. Very nice, glad to see Dynavector and Grace in your list. One of the rarest cantilever from Grace in my private collection of their original styli is Ceramic for LEVEL II (and Ceramic version for F14 model) made in the 80's. Never seen any other cartridge with thin black Ceramic cantilever in my life. I think this is the most exotic type of cantilever, if you're familiar with Ceramic cantilevers it would be nice to spread the light, because it's such a rare type. Would be nice to hear your comment if you seen anything like that, Peter. Grace is the only company to my knowledge that made nearly all kings of cantilevers for their styli (Aluminum, Beryllium Pipe, Ruby, Sapphire, Boron Pipe and finally Ceramic Pipe). Also different diamonds (Conical, Elliptical, Advanced Luminal Trace, Discrete 4, Utility 4, and finally Micro Ridge for the latest models like LEVEL II and F14). P.S. Surprised not to see any American manufacturers in your list :) Michael Fremer managed to record an interview with Norman Pickering, link to the audiofile is there. The interesting point is how Walter O. Stanton took Pickering's company and started Stanton Magnetics Inc. I remember then because of the MC versus MM subject: Stanton and Pickering very low output (low impedance) MM cartridges was an alternative to LOMC. An interesting design with Stereohedron tip. |
Peter - yes my own and thank you. The muse is an ancient Labrador we have had since she was a pup - next month she will be 17.5... blessed with a heart that has saved many a child - kids read to her as part of school literacy programs...her name is Esperanza- Hope so lovely how your rescue came and became the rescuer.... I will give you the Kona but insist that beyond Dogs we include in the trinity a decent Rye. blessings good man, you made me smile |
Suspensions tended to fail with long term age. They WERE great carts. Indeed, depends on environment/storage, i am not afraid to try and after trying as much as possible NOS Stanton samples i’ve never seen one with softened suspension like those notorious Technics mk3 and mk4 low riders from the 70’s with softened suspension that can’t hold the cartridge and can’t resist even 1.25g tracking force. I think softened suspension is the biggest problem and material that Technics used was bad choise. But Stanton and Pickering choosed the right one, well maybe compliance is not that high anymore (it was 30cu), but the damper is definitely not bad, but more important the sound is so silky smooth and so pleasant, especially this one from early 90’s Walter O. Stanton Signature Collector’s Series 100 with their best Stereohedron II profile. The ONLY model from Stanton with Sapphire Coated Aluminum Cantilever. Actually Stanton made so many models and styli for all formats (stereo, mono, 78), but the cheap models are bonded. What a great brand is was until Walter sold it. Reading this old Stanton Product Catalog from the golden age of analog is a pleasure. It’s amazing that in the late 1940’s Mr. Stanton’s slide-in stylus made it possible for users to replace a needle assembly when it wore out, instead of having to send it back to the factory. He ran both of his companies until retiring in 1998, but Mr.Pickering wasn’t happy about it until his death, even dying in his chair Pickering mentioned Stanton in M.Fremer interview. However, even after Stanton bought and run both companies he did not shut down Pickering brand, here is the latest from the mid 90’s. It’s a strange story that identical cartridges have been made under two different brands by the same factory, the different was the design only. Walter O. Stanton was Norman C. Pickering’s plant manager. In 1950, Walter Stanton bought Pickering & Company, the audio component manufacturer that first sold his patented stylus. Here is another forgotten video interview with Norman Pickering. And one mode video with him. Very interesting! My favorite comment was from Walter Stanton, who during a large meeting with sales reps, was asked "Why do the diamond styli cost so much?" LOL Reading some fact about Walter Stanton i found this: "Mr. Stanton was known for holding outings on his boat near his longtime home in Laurel Hollow, N.Y., and playing jokes on employees." BTW (since you’re all from NY area): Grado is another very old NYC family business, a person who invented stereo MC decided to go on with MI only :)) Here is a video tour. Joseph Grado Signature XTZ (from the 80’s) still my favorite MI. Its Special twin-tip Grado nude stylus still available from Grado. |
Peter, this has become a wide ranging question and answer process so I hope you will field another; You build and sell some very expensive and complicated cartridge designs and yet your phono stage designs are relatively simple and inexpensive. Can you explain why? My guess would be that at the end of the day, you don’t have the resources to compete with the manufacturers of top-tier phono stages but maybe your answer is totally different. Also, and I must confess to being a bit apprehensive about even bringing this up, but your remark; Maybe some people have not looked hard at my last name. Ledermann. My parents were holocaust survivors.confuses me. I am Jewish. I am 60. There is nothing in your name that would cause me for a second to suspect your parents were holocaust survivors. You have a German-sounding last name and your first name, I don’t need to tell you, is not one common to us Jews :-) Care to elaborate how or why your parents were gathered up to the camps and how you ended up with the name of Peter? Also, a perhaps-amusing aside about Mr. Van den Hul. I met him at Axpona of 2019. I bought one of his Crimson Strads from one of his distributors and he signed my box and he happily posed for photos with me looking proud and happy to have one of his better cartridges. I was hanging around in the room he helped sponsor and sitting next to him and he looked at me at some point and asked "so what kind of name is Tallan?". I told him it was Russian (true) but I couldn’t help wondering what prompted his question. |
The ox I love you, pious ox; and mild a feeling Of vigor and peace to the heart infuse me, Or that solemn as a monument You look at the free and fruitful fields, 0 that at the yoke bowing happily The agil opra de l’uom grave seconds: He urges you and pricks you, and you with the slow Giro de ’patient eyes answer. From the broad wet and black nostril Smoke your spirit, and like a happy hymn The bellowing in the serene air is lost; And of the serious glaucous eye within the austere Sweetness is reflected broad and quiet The divine of the green silence plan. |
You have a German-sounding last name and your first name, I don’t need to tell you, is not one common to us JewsI have eight 'Peters' just amongst my close Jewish circle of friends. And I think the 'Jewish' Apostle St Peter knew his name was more popular in the ancient lands of Canaan than that of St Paul (Saul) or even Joshua (Yeshua)...Jesus himself 🤪 |
I was hanging around in the room he helped sponsor and sitting next to him and he looked at me at some point and asked "so what kind of name is Tallan?". I told him it was Russian (true) but I couldn’t help wondering what prompted his question. I am Russian, never ever hear this name "Tallan" and never met anyone with this name in Russia. |
@retipper Dear Peter, here is an interesting question: Some people always recommend a cartridge for certain genre of music, i always thought it's a nonsense, because a good cartridge must be neutral. But we often read "this is a cartridge for rock" and "that is a cartridge for classical" or "this is for jazz" ... Would be nice to read your opinion. Thanks |
So many questions......so little time or room. First; my preamps. They are very high end designs, but we don’t make much $$ on them. Why, you may ask, do we make them. For the same reason that I do many things that don’t translate into money. It is for the music and my customers. In a way, I am glad it’s not too popular. I would start losing lots more on them. Fremer and Holmes BOTH got what I did when I designed them and in their reviews of the original Sussurro and MCP-2 said the same thing: "If you have X $ to spend, don’t split it on a cartridge and preamp, buy the Soundsmith Sussurro and MCP-2 - you will be far ahead of the game". I made our preamps high end but low cost them so folks COULD save $ and move up the food chain in our line of carts and get far more result. I listen to and demo the Hyperion with the MCP-2 ($1199) - which has compared favorably to preamps costing 4X as much. I also introduced continuously variable loading - on the fly - from 10 Ohms to 5K - so you can tune it by ear to what sounds good to you. Now on the point of different cartridges for different music. MOST cartridges are not neutral. Neutrality however, is my design goal always, above everything, regardless of products I make - speakers, amplifiers, preamps, cartridges, etc..... . The technical. reasons for LACK of neutrality are many, but let me put it this way. If you were to take a Grace F9, and look at the "sine" wave produced, you would be shocked. It is NOT sinusoidal. How does it sound? Great. One must separate the wheat from the chaff. When I was director of engineering at Bozak, Rudy Bozak taught me an important lesson regarding loudspeaker design. He said "There are 10 things you’d like to do when designing a loudspeaker - you’re only going to get to do 3 of them. You’d better pick the right things". So linearity in and of itself is not the whole key to sonics, but does cause coloration when its bad. Many people don’t know HOW to listen to a cartridge. The same could be said for me in the sense of art - I LIKE art, and own some, but I don’t know how to look at it - NOT like an artist. A cartridge has it’s WORST moment when things get busy. That tells you about transient performance, and certain aspects of the design. So you have to look at the whole elephant. Good for riding through a riotous crowd, getting rid of excess peanuts, helping you wash your car, not good as an indoor pet. The Grace is like tube gear. If you do a harmonic distortion analysis on tube gear, you see LOTS of distortion. What kind? even order (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc....). Many solid state designs? ODD order. Even order is MUSICAL, and adds pleasant harmonics. Odd order? Horrible. Is a tube amp/preamp "accurate"? No.Is it nice to have as a pet?Sure. I am the last one to tell folks what to own - that they MUST own something "totally" accurate. I made an audio discovery 45 yeas ago of a device that puts you in an alpha state after 60 seconds of listening to music with it. It is "linear"? No. Does it make you smile? You bet. Will I ever bring it to market? No - I don’t have the resources. It, like over a hundred inventions I have, will go with me to the next world, IF they let me take any baggage. You know how airlines keep changing the rules. Because I do what I do, and have the philosophy I do, I am compelled to yearn for truth and accuracy and to discover how to accomplish that. That requires years, much thought, experimentation, failure, intuition. Is extreme accuracy always the best? Hard to answer. In life, one often needs to find out what it’s NOT, before one can know what it is. Same for engineering. So what happens when you play a less than perfect record with a very accurate cartridge? Well, it’s the same as getting too close to a fallen goddess. You will be awash with imperfection. What happens if you were up front and close to her before she fell?~ It would take your breath away.~ Peter Ledermann |
Peter, I'm the last person to accurately comment on accuracy Lol. But before acquiring the Straingauge, I used to run a Transfiguration Temper Supreme, and then their Orpheus. Compared to my more coloured carts...Roksan Shiraz, Zu Denon 103, Lyra Skala and Parnassus, I would have sworn the Transfigurations were the model of neutrality. But not so, far from it. So, w the SG, I now GENUINELY hear tonal discrimination and timbral accuracy that makes every lp sound different (no homogenizing or smearing going on) and voices and instruments sound genuine, authentic and familiar. And the other areas that totally convince on the neutrality/realism thing is lifelike speed and bass impact. So, I'm not a musician, or an audiophile who's heard everything. But I've devoted 22 years to this hobby, refining my sound away from euphonically coloured and twds accurate and musical. And my Straingauge cart is the one component along w my LT air tonearm that absolutely nails the accurate/musical balance. And that I believe follows from it's ability as a high resolution but even handed transducer. And Peter, I need to get on w ordering those repl stylii, please contact me. |
Above someone asked my about my family. My father and family was from Breslau, my mother from Frankfurt-am -Main. My father and his sister fled in 39; their parents escaped in 42 - a miracle. My paternal Grandfather - Georg Ledermann, was major industrialist. He was "protected" by "friends" - and although sent to a camp for 8 weeks in 1940, was "returned" home, starving, by means he never discovered. They nearly starved till 42, when by a miracle my father got them visas to Cuba. The US was NOT allowing refugees into the US by then, they were considered "enemy aliens" and were not allowed into the US - even though they were fleeing for their lives. They took a train from Breslau, to Barcelona, and before boarding the boat were stopped and "arrested" by German soldiers who asked them to produce passports. For those who are not aware, those passports were stamped "JEW" in red. A priest who was across the street came over and told the German he could not arrest them - did he not SEE the medal my grandmother was wearing? She wore a small gold chain with many tiny medals, each the size of a dime, that had belonged to her grandfather. ONE medal was the Isabella award, (Wikipedia) given to her grandfather by the king of Spain for his 30 yeas of service as German council. It meant, technically, that he, and ALL his descendants, were "honorary" Spanish citizens. He let them go. I have the award. They spend 14 months in Cuba, and when entering the US, were detained for days and shown maps of Breslau, to point out what was made in each factory - something my grandfather well knew. The US and British soon leveled Breslau to six feet of rubble. The rest of the Ledermann and Ehrlich families died in concentration camps. My mother’s father was a general, and head legal council to the German army in WW1. By WWII, many of the military brass that has served under him - who were now Nazis - "protected" him, his wife and my mother till 42. He was a "war hero" and also a war criminal, as all German generals were after WW1. His name is on the treaty of Versailles. In 42, my mother was crying as she left a government office, and was grabbed by a Nazi who recognized her - he had served under her father. He helped arrange a bribe to a fellow in the Visa office, but they were discovered by another in that office who demanded that my grandfather "defend" his brother, a murderer of his own wife and daughter. Jews had been stripped of their right to practice law, medicine and more many years earlier, But in 1942, my grandfather, Adolphe Solomon, defended a murderer in a Frankfurt court. The judge didn’t have the guts to tell him - "I’m sorry Dr. Solomon, you are not allowed to practice law in this court". He won, or I would not be typing this that you are reading. He fled to England with wife and my mother. His son, Gerard, had fled in 39, missing the Nazis that came for him by 30 minutes. My uncle Gerard fled to Paris, where he designed/sold a folding boat that could be carried in two small briefcases. I often wondered why he did that. Then it hit me. He realized that if/when the Nazis came to Paris, Jews could paddle across the channel to England. He moved to the US, married a Jew, and converted to Christianity. Changed his name to "Sandersen" and tried to pass himself off as a Swede. He knew there was a lot of antisemitism then in the US, and he was "done" being Jewish. Thank God there is no more antisemitism now here or anywhere. He lived in Aspen Colorado, - He was "Sandy, the silversmith. An artist, poet, inventor, silversmith, stained glass creator, painter, architect, musician, teacher and more. I loved him. I knew three out of four grandparents. It should not have happened. Peter Ledermann |
I am Russian, never ever hear this name "Tallan" and never met anyone with this name in Russia.Are you challenging me? Perhaps you are unaware that when immigrants with long names came through Ellis Island, the names were truncated and "Americanized" often not by the Federal officials as commonly believed but at the request of the immigrating family. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ask-smithsonian-did-ellis-island-officials-really-change-names-immigrants-180961544/ Regardless of how it came to be, one of my relatives did an exhaustive search and found that my family's original name was "Telushkin" and that we came from a village long ago decimated, the Village of Slutzk. https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/slutsk/slu-xi.html Anything else Chakster? |
Regardless of how it came to be, one of my relatives did an exhaustive search and found that my family’s original name was "Telushkin" and that we came from a village long ago decimated, the Village of Slutzk. @fsonicsmith So you passed KGB test. Telushkin is indeed Russian surename :) Sounds good. Of course i don’t know how it works when immigrant came through Ellis Island, but i have jewish roots myself, my grand-grand mother’s surename was Cohen, she was a daughter of Rabbi in western Ukraine. |
