Soundsmith Cartridges are Hand-Made upon order and are ready to ship in approximately 30 Days!
An Unparalleled Warranty! Retip is only $350 and is guaranteed for a Full Year!
The Soundsmith Norma, the sister cartridge to the Aida Moving Iron Cartridge, features the same sweet midrange!
Soundsmith is pleased to announce the Norma Medium Output cartridge designed to fill the need for audiophiles that have moderate gain preamplifiers from such esteemed manufacturers as Conrad-Johnson and Audio Research among many others!
Peter Ledermann designed the Norma cartridge to perform flawlessly in preamps that utilize a FIXED 48dB-54dB gain structure. No longer is there any fear of overloading with a high output MM cartridge or having to ramp up the volume with a low output MC type.
Based on PeterÂ’s now classic Aida Moving Iron design, the Norma moderate output cartridge gives the same level of performance as its sibling. Without any tradeoffs, this new medium output cartridge will breathe new life and alter expectations from audio system front-ends with moderate gain!
All top end cartridges from all manufacturers are hand made. The real issue is that when you are manufacturing something so tiny, that has to perform so well, that all of them are NOT the same. If you donÂ’t see this statement from other manufacturers, then this is a "secret" they donÂ’t want to share, and quite understandably so.
Soundsmith carefully hand builds each and every cartridge, tests them, and keeps accurate records by serial number of their performance. Those that meet or exceed specifications are sold. But, there are always a few that measure much better than the other "great" ones... and Soundsmith selects these to be mounted in Ebony bodies, available to you as "selected" units.
Soundsmith cartridges overturn the myth that moving coil cartridges are the only path towards perfection. After all, what is the accepted “advantage” of moving coil cartridges? Low effective moving mass, right? Well, Soundsmith has less. Much less. And if you understand EFFECTIVE moving mass, Less IS more. Why is that good? Because when you lower the moving system mass, it’s easier to control. If it’s easier to control, the stylus can stay in better contact with the groove walls. That’s good, because if you can’t stay in contact with the groove walls, you can’t hear what’s on the record.
Is a high gain moving coil preamp required? No. "Norma" is designed to be used with a Moving Magnet preamp. No "step-up" transformers. No finicky multi-stage ultra high gain preamp required. Less is more here, too.
Once youÂ’ve heard your new Norma cartridge, youÂ’ll never go back.
An Unparalleled Warranty:
The Norma Cartridge is covered for a full one year. Retip is 20% of the retail ($350). An absolutely unheard of warranty for cartridges. Made in the USA, the Soundsmith cartridges are the best long term values around!
Specifications:
Stylus: Contact Line Nude, 0.100mm SQ
Radius of curvature: Optimized Contour Contact Line
Cantilever: Ruby
Recommended Tracking Force: 10mN / 1.0 gm
Tip Mass: 0.30 mg
Compliance: 28 um/mN
Frequency Response: 20-20,000 Hz +/- 2.5 dB
Channel Separation: 1000 Hz Greater Than 30 dB, 50-15,000 Hz Greater Than 20 dB
Channel difference: Less Than 1.0 dB
Output voltage: Greater Than 0.6 mV/cm/sec.
5 cm/sec. Lat. RMS: Greater Than 1.1 mV
Cartridge weight: 6.8 grams
Load: 1500 Ohms or Greater
1 Year Warranty
Retip: $350
An Unparalleled Warranty! Retip is only $350 and is guaranteed for a Full Year!
The Soundsmith Norma, the sister cartridge to the Aida Moving Iron Cartridge, features the same sweet midrange!
Soundsmith is pleased to announce the Norma Medium Output cartridge designed to fill the need for audiophiles that have moderate gain preamplifiers from such esteemed manufacturers as Conrad-Johnson and Audio Research among many others!
Peter Ledermann designed the Norma cartridge to perform flawlessly in preamps that utilize a FIXED 48dB-54dB gain structure. No longer is there any fear of overloading with a high output MM cartridge or having to ramp up the volume with a low output MC type.
Based on PeterÂ’s now classic Aida Moving Iron design, the Norma moderate output cartridge gives the same level of performance as its sibling. Without any tradeoffs, this new medium output cartridge will breathe new life and alter expectations from audio system front-ends with moderate gain!
All top end cartridges from all manufacturers are hand made. The real issue is that when you are manufacturing something so tiny, that has to perform so well, that all of them are NOT the same. If you donÂ’t see this statement from other manufacturers, then this is a "secret" they donÂ’t want to share, and quite understandably so.
Soundsmith carefully hand builds each and every cartridge, tests them, and keeps accurate records by serial number of their performance. Those that meet or exceed specifications are sold. But, there are always a few that measure much better than the other "great" ones... and Soundsmith selects these to be mounted in Ebony bodies, available to you as "selected" units.
Soundsmith cartridges overturn the myth that moving coil cartridges are the only path towards perfection. After all, what is the accepted “advantage” of moving coil cartridges? Low effective moving mass, right? Well, Soundsmith has less. Much less. And if you understand EFFECTIVE moving mass, Less IS more. Why is that good? Because when you lower the moving system mass, it’s easier to control. If it’s easier to control, the stylus can stay in better contact with the groove walls. That’s good, because if you can’t stay in contact with the groove walls, you can’t hear what’s on the record.
Is a high gain moving coil preamp required? No. "Norma" is designed to be used with a Moving Magnet preamp. No "step-up" transformers. No finicky multi-stage ultra high gain preamp required. Less is more here, too.
Once youÂ’ve heard your new Norma cartridge, youÂ’ll never go back.
An Unparalleled Warranty:
The Norma Cartridge is covered for a full one year. Retip is 20% of the retail ($350). An absolutely unheard of warranty for cartridges. Made in the USA, the Soundsmith cartridges are the best long term values around!
Specifications:
Stylus: Contact Line Nude, 0.100mm SQ
Radius of curvature: Optimized Contour Contact Line
Cantilever: Ruby
Recommended Tracking Force: 10mN / 1.0 gm
Tip Mass: 0.30 mg
Compliance: 28 um/mN
Frequency Response: 20-20,000 Hz +/- 2.5 dB
Channel Separation: 1000 Hz Greater Than 30 dB, 50-15,000 Hz Greater Than 20 dB
Channel difference: Less Than 1.0 dB
Output voltage: Greater Than 0.6 mV/cm/sec.
5 cm/sec. Lat. RMS: Greater Than 1.1 mV
Cartridge weight: 6.8 grams
Load: 1500 Ohms or Greater
1 Year Warranty
Retip: $350
