Soundsmith Goes Willy Wonka
How do you make a category-busting cartridge into a giant slayer? That was Soundsmith's Peter Ledermann's challenge. But now, they've added another bonus - a golden ticket!
Seeking to break through the mythic barriers that lay between the original Zephyr MIMC and those exotic moving-coil cartridges from far away lands, Ledermann's result is the new Zephyr MIMC cartridge.
A highly precise, laser-drilled sapphire cantilever and a selected, nude Contact Line diamond stylus mean that performance has just been launched through the stratosphere and right into orbit!
When Peter first listened to this new creation, apparently it was a jaw-dropping revelation. "Speed, detail, space, harmonics, and outrageously beautiful midrange magic!"
Chris Strom, National Sales Manager for Radiance Audio Visual who handles Soundsmith locally, told StereoNET:
We’re so excited about it the new Zephyr catridge and a global promotion we’re calling the “Golden Ticket” … everyone who purchases a Zephyr MIMC from the first 1,500 produced will get a gift from Soundsmith! It could be EZ Mount Screws, it could be a phono preamp - it might even be a Strain Gauge 210!
There are so very few cartridges in the world, at any price, that can perform as well, and this is the truth.
Ledderman added:
Not only has the cantilever been upgraded to a laser-drilled sapphire with nude, selected Contact Line stylus - we’ve borrowed some of the “DEMS” (Dynamic Energy Management System) from Sussurro to make sure that Zephyr MIMC Star has real Star Power … we’ve achieved over 40dB of channel separation in house, which is an outrageously superb spec!
You'd be very hard pressed to get anywhere NEAR the performance of a Zephyr MIMC Star with an MC design under $5,000 USD … and in some respects, there aren’t any MCs at any price that can match it’s performance.
Read what Michael Fremer said about our new cartridge here.
For the promotion, Soundsmith has taken a leaf right out of Willy Wonka's book. A small, golden envelope will contain a ‘ticket’ of sorts with a serial number that corresponds to a gift and - once sealed - these envelopes will be mixed and randomised, then placed into a blind box and distributed around the world. There will be 1500 of these envelopes, corresponding to 1500 cartridges being produced for this program. Every Zephyr MIMC Star box will have one of these envelopes inside it.
As with all Soundsmith magnetic cartridges and one of the benefits of investment in Soundsmith, Zephyr MIMC Star can be rebuilt many times for 20% or less of the retail price - regardless of whether or not you are the first or the 101st owner of the cartridge. No other manufacturer to our knowledge offers even close to this.
All of this would be meaningless, of course, if the Zephyr MIMC Star didn’t shine past it’s $2200 RRP price point.
Get into Sounsmith now, and hope for the right golden ticket!
Soundsmith is distributed in Australia by Radiance AV.
Marc Rushton
StereoNET’s Founder and Publisher was born in England and raised on British Hi-Fi before moving to Australia. He developed an early love of music and playing bass guitar before discovering the studio and the other side of the mixing desk. After writing for print magazines, Marc saw the future in digital publishing and founded the first version of StereoNET in 1999.
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