SoundSmith SMMC-2 has arrived.

I've taken delivery of the SoundSmith SMMC-2 cartridge I ordered last month for my B&O TX-2. The SMMC-2 is a nude contact line stylus on a ruby cantilever. It tracks at 1.0 gram. It's the equivalent to the second from the TOTL B&O, the top being the same except with an "optimized" contact line stylus. SoundSmith makes an equivalent to that one too, and one or two more above that as well.

Though it isn't in the pricing stratosphere where the real high-end cartridges live, this was the single most expensive audio purchase I've ever made. (Mostly because I've bought very few things new having been fortunate to find bargains on good used gear over the years.)

So far I'm enjoying it immensely. My B&O had been out of commission for a month or so after the old cartridge died, and it's really nice to have it back on line again. I don't want to say too much about the sound quality yet since it only has about 45 minutes on it (and on my ears, too). It takes me listening to something for a while before the nuances of its presentation sink in. In a nod to Arkay's suggestion, I taped a few things with the cartridge right out of the box to serve as a point of comparison in a hundred hours or so to see what "break in" really means to this cartridge. I'll post more about that in the thread where it came up, perhaps start a new thread later on.

Here's the cartridge. The cantilever is amazingly thin, and it's clear red color is pretty cool.

Very nice! Congratulations! Pretty big box for a small cartridge...

Ok, first impression I'm willing to go "on record" with (pun intended!)

I listened to Lena Horne and Gabor Szabo "Lena and Gabor" last night on my Luxman with a Grado Green. Sounded really good, but I felt that Lena's voice was just too far back in the mix. I couldn't really tell if it was the mix or the quality of her voice, as the more percussive kind of sounds were good ("t's," "p's," even the dreaded "sssss" was fine) but the body of her voice was unsatisfying. Too dark and subdued. Well with the SMMC-2 and TX-2 her voice is smooth, strong, natural and vibrant. The mix is just right. The rest of the instrumentation never sounded better either.

Fantastic. I hear they need about 100 hrs or so to fully break in. Want to hear more about it as it gets there. I've got a Supex there waiting to be rebuilt with that same config.
Cheers

Congrats!

I've got exactly the same thing, a TX-2 with a SMMC-2. I consider it an excellent cartridge. Although my TX-2 has been sitting idle lately, I'm going to set up a second system in the house with it in a month or two.

I have the same cantilever/stylus as the result of a retip for my Grace Ruby, and you are right, the cantilever is amazingly thin...so much so it's somewhat hard to see with the naked eye. The stylus is very small, too. I opted for the same stylus as you because the TOTL stylus (optimized line contact) is extremely fussy about setup, apparently. They sure pull detail out of the grooves. I find that a minimum of 50 hours or so is required to run them in, and dynamic music is a big help.

Beautiful, love that ruby cantilever.

Second observation: This cartridge makes it painfully obvious that I need an RCM.

JonL said:

Second observation: This cartridge makes it painfully obvious that I need an RCM.

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"They sure pull detail out of the grooves...."

I was listening late at night last night, pretty loud, really focused on the music. There was some dirt in the groove and the sound conjured up this image of the stylus magnified 10,000x dragging across the side of a boulder jammed into the side of a groove the size of a ditch. It was as if I could hear the shape of the crud. It was both scary and amazing at the same time.

Please keep us up to date.

Congrats on a truly world calss cartridge! Glad to (Hear) pun intended that you are impressed. I have a Benz Glider there as well and should be done before Christmas I hope. I got it with the cantiliever broken,so off to Soundsmith it went. Can`t wait to hear your Impressions after the break-in period!

dokblues said:

I have a Benz Glider there as well and should be done before Christmas I hope.

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You definitely need to tell us about that when the time comes. :yes:

I think sound smith cartridges do these B&O tables great justice.


It just sounds right. Tight, defined, cd clarity, with vinyl depth.

Mr. Lin said:

You definitely need to tell us about that when the time comes. :yes:

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I'm sure Mr Lin wants to know about that because a Benz Glider was his main squeeze before the ZYX arrived. I'm sure he's curious to know how the Soundsmith ruby canti/stylus works with this cart.

secondslc said:

I think sound smith cartridges do these B&O tables great justice.


It just sounds right. Tight, defined, cd clarity, with vinyl depth.

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That pretty well sums it up. The old B&O MMC-5 (BOTL) had those same characteristics, though so far it seems that the SMMC-2 has deeper bass, a little warmer midrange (though not really warm), and amazing high end resolution.

25 hour update

The cartridge has about 25 hours on it now. Most of the listening I've been doing has been at low volume. I like to keep it low while my neighbors are home so I've only listened to a handful of sides at higher volume. Now that it's the weekend (when my neighbors go to a vacation house) I can crank it up more. During this past week I've also been doing some listening to my Thorens TD-125 with a Shure M75 conical stylus cartridge. Observations so far:

The SMMC-2 is extremely detailed and will show you exactly what is on the disc - be it beautiful music or dirt and scratches. The cartridge fairly demands a record cleaning machine. With a nice clean disc the cartridge really brings out the instruments and vocals with clarity and separation. Things that are recorded back in the mix are clearly audible and not masked by the louder parts. You can pick out any one of the background vocalists on a song and focus on what that one singer is doing even if it is back in the mix and in the same timbre as the lead vocal. When a vocal track has been doubled (which I don't like) you can hear all the space between the doubling, it almost feels like you can put your hand between the two vocal tracks. With all the high frequency resolution this cartridge puts out I keep listening for it be strident or tiring, but it never is. Even vocals that were recorded with a little sibilance or on records with some groove wear the sibilance is somehow a little smoother and less offensive than it's been in the past for me. I'd say the high end simply sparkles on this cartridge.

As for the bass... it's deeper and fuller than it was with my old MMC-5. At first blush it doesn't seem like there's a lot of bass but I think that's simply because it doesn't have a lower midrange hump that gives the impression of bass but which isn't really accurate. Listening to a mono Dakota Staton record last night I could feel the upright bass in my chest even at moderate volume. The bass is palpable even at the quietest levels. Very nice.

The midrange. Here's where I've been struggling a bit. I had been feeling like the midrange was a little weak. The music didn't feel like it had a lot of body. Instruments like cellos and piano didn't convey their size and movement of air that they create. If the high end of the cartridge wasn't so delicious I might even have called it thin sounding. This impression was made even stronger when I listened to the Thorens with the Shure. That combination has body and punch that I've never heard from my system before. Probably the opposite extreme. After listening to the Thorens for a bit I felt that the midrange was too much. It sounds overly warm and bloated. (I've since changed the VTA a little and it may have improved it, though I haven't listened enough to be certain). Going back to the B&O the clarity and sparkle is immediately apparent, the more natural bass is immediately apparent, but the midrange body still seemed to be a little lacking.

I've been using the past tense in describing my midrange impressions because over the last few hours the midrange seems to be coming forward more. (Break-in? Seems so.) I think if it had sounded like this from the beginning I wouldn't have had any concerns about the midrange at all. As it is now, I'm probably being oversensitive to that aspect of the cartridge. I think it will take a few more days to know.

I think the combination of the B&O, SMMC-2, and Klipsch speakers works really well for soundstage and imaging. I'll close my eyes and see the musicians in full 3D, side to side, front to back, top to bottom. Very nice indeed.

So that's my interim report! I'll be back in a week or so with more.

JonL said:

With all the high frequency resolution this cartridge puts out I keep listening for it be strident or tiring, but it never is.

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This answers a question I was planning to ask as I was reading the first part of your post. It was beginning to sound like a case of "hyper-detail," or what we always call "analytical." But the above quote makes it seem like the cartridge is in fact properly balanced in the end. Great review John, btw! Can't get much more descriptive than that.

Puma Cat said:

I'm sure Mr Lin wants to know about that because a Benz Glider was his main squeeze before the ZYX arrived. I'm sure he's curious to know how the Soundsmith ruby canti/stylus works with this cart.

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The Glider still holds a special place in my heart. And it's sitting in it's little box just to the left of my computer monitor as I type this, waiting to be put back into action...

I don't know if it's my ears, the discs I'm playing tonight, or that the cartridge is breaking in more rapidly, but right now there is no lack of midrange body and the bass has also richened up a bit. I may have overestimated the time on the cartridge as well. Probably closer to 18 hours.

I have purchased a couple SMMC-4's over the past few years for my B&O's and have been very pleased with The SoundSmith's lower end. I purchased my TX-2 new back in 1987 with a MMC-2 and remember how wounderful that cartridge was... I was hesitant on purchasing the SMMC-2 because of the price, and not knowing the craftsmanship of the SoundsSmith's. With the recent articles in Stereophile and what I’ve been hearing on this site, I think next year is the year I splurge on the higher end cartridge from them.