Talking about service!
My 20 month old Soundsmith Voice started miss-tracking. With the naked eye the stylus looked...odd. Viewed under magnification, the cantilever had twisted in it's fitting so that the stylus was pointed at the right channel. I mailed this picture to Soundsmith. Peter Ledermann wrote me back telling me to call him which I did. He told me to ship the cartridge back and leave a message on the box, "For Peter's Immediate Attention!" I got the repaired cartridge back IN FIVE DAYS and with no charge even though the cartridge was 8 months off warranty. Thank you Soundsmith!
Great news and glad Peter is obviously feeling better I know he had a longterm battle with Covid. And here's that pic you were trying to post @mijostyn
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I had a problem with a Grace Ruby that was re-tipped by SS with an OCL stylus. It just did not sound right. Peter invited me to return it, found the problem, which was due to an error in their work, fixed it, and had it back to me within a week or two. It has sounded fabulous ever since. You'd rather not have mistakes, but no company is perfect, and if they stand behind their work as SS does, all is forgiven. |
@jond THANX! How did you do that? That is the point exactly @lewm. You can break off styluses and snap cantilevers but you should not be able to do this. Peter did not tell me what the problem was but obviously there was a construction error. M question is, what force caused it to twist? There was no accident. I suspect that putting the stylus down at the beginning of the record on the lip which is slopped did it. |
@mijostyn It's super easy once you upload a pic to Imgur just copy/paste it right into the chat box. |
It was a choice between a Hana Umami Red and a SoundSmith Sussurro Mk II ES. I chose the SoundSmith for all of the reasons cited above. Peter Lederman called me back (after having left a message about a technical question), which I found to be outstanding in its' own right. Anyone else at SoundSmith could have called me back with an answer, but it was Peter Lederman himself that returned the call. I was impressed. I am also impressed with the sonic qualities of the Sussurro Mk II cartridge. An added benefit is that I am supporting an American company as well as a truly class-act human being. |
@mammothguy54 , good choice. The Sussurro is more accurate and tracks better. I have not looked at the Umami Red Stylus but I have only seen one stylus that was polished better than the Soundmith (the Sussurro and Voice use the exact same stylus and cantilever) and that is on a $10,000 cartridge. The picture about is of very high magnification but look at the stylus it is perfectly clear of imperfections. That is not what you commonly get. Some styluses are actually black. What I am seeing is that the more expensive cartridges have intentionally selected styluses and appear to be polished better. Soundsmith seems to have used it's best stylus down to the $3000 level for sure and maybe even further down the line. I will start more threads on the topic of styluses after I gather enough photos to show everyone. I will post them so everyone can see for themselves. |
@mijostyn Thank you for the information and good comment. Your contributions always attract my attention. |
@mammothguy54 , Thank You. |
I posted it as an FYI. I have no interest in Soundsmith other than I own one. For people buy expensive little things it is comforting to know that a manufacturer stands by it's products and even after the warranty is up it will still cover manufacturing defects. Everyone makes mistakes, it is what you do afterwards that counts. |
I'll add another good story of quality service from one of our industry vendors. BAT (Balanced Audio Technology) is the vendor/brand I wish to mention. I have BAT products in my system. My amplifier was eliciting an odd sound, but only on occasion. I contacted BAT and discussed the issue. Because it was an intermittent problem, and only occurring a few times per month, we agreed to wait until it became more frequent so when tested on the bench, they could more quickly find the problem. BAT went out of their way to remain in contact with me (they called me before I even called them) for about 3 months. Ultimately, they concluded it was time to send the amp to them. Because it was a long and nagging issue they offered to pay for shipping, both ways. Warranty policy, as is typical in the industry, is for the customer to pay shipping to the vendor and the vendor pays for return shipping (this being during the warranty period). The problem was quickly detected as a failing part on the left main power board. The amp was repaired and return shipped the same week they received it. The attitude and service from BAT was a comforting experience. These are expensive components and the treatment by BAT toward their customers is exemplary of the highest quality of any company in this industry. For that matter, any industry of consumer products. Bravo to BAT. |
