New Phono Pre-amp!

[Johnny Vinyl]

Well, I've listened to the new Phono Pre-amp for a bit now. All of last night and since about 8am this morning.

This thing is amazing! Even my girlfriend commented on the sound. I put on Ricky Lee Jones (my fave) and a record she likes as well. She's no audiophile, but is very much a music lover. Anyway, she asked me who that was I had playing, so I told her. She was amazed...said it sounded so much cleaner, clearer and much more definition (her words)....she had me play it twice more!

Gotta go for a second....feel like cue-ing up some Paul McCartney RAM and then some David Bowie Young Americans.

[naturephoto1]

John,

I do not want to steal your thunder.

This is pretty much my Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp:





Soundsmith did forgot something from the back of the unit, so it was picked up today for correction. I should have it back soon.

The Soundsmith Phono Preamp is required to play this:





The Strain Gauge Cartridge actually lights up when in use.

I will report when the whole turntable assembly is completed.

Rich

[dobyblue]

Rich, any chance you might have a hirez shot of the cartridge you can share with us?

[guitarist155]

woohoo i got the whole cartridge on the screen but I had to switch to the 20in WS monitor, I think I can get the whole pic in if I switch to the pj does that preamp have a ground lug? is it black and I just can't see it?

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by guitarist155

woohoo i got the whole cartridge on the screen but I had to switch to the 20in WS monitor, I think I can get the whole pic in if I switch to the pj does that preamp have a ground lug? is it black and I just can't see it?

Yes the Phono Preamp does have a ground lug and screw on it. The photo of the back of the Preamp (actually this is the model 610- both that and my 410 are the same on the back) does not show the ground lug. If you look carefully, on the left side above the cartridge inputs there is a small hole. Actually, on mine which had to go back because they forgot a small shaft for the dimmer, there is a screw and lug (in brass I believe) in that small hole. Once everything is here and assembled, I will post photos of everything. To see the whole cartridge, at least in Firefox, right click on the image and then click on view image. This seems to be a fairly high resolution photo.

If you want to see more images of the Strain Gauge Preamps and Strain Gauge Cartridge, go to this link and do some looking around. There is a lot of info and also a lot of photos on the website:

http://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges/sg.html

The Strain Gauge is the only cartridge of its kind in production (Soundsmith only makes about 20 of these a year). It is a tremendous update of an idea that is over 20? years old. It is neither a MC nor a MM cartridge and uses a strain gauge. As a result, it does not rely on an RIAA Phono Preamp and has been built to simulate the RIAA curves.

Rich