Intended for a second system that is not gonna happen anytime soon...cart is absolutely indistinguishable from new and has less than 5 hours total on it. Asking price includes insured ground shipping to any US street address (no PO boxes). Happy to answer any questions to the best of my abilities, thanks for looking.Soundsmith Otello Moving Iron Phono Cartridge Your Ticket to the High-End The Otello is an affordable entry into the world of high-performance cartridges. Designed and built like all Soundsmith cartridges, Soundsmith carefully engineered Otello to give it a proper balance of tone and resolution, the result is a cartridge that complements virtually any type of music. Just slightly warmer than other Soundsmith designs, Otello yields a richness of timbre that is utterly beguiling with a level of speed and dynamic range that no other cartridge in this price range can touch. Otello is a medium weight cartridge at 6.8Gms making it compatible with a broad variety of tonearms and thanks to its 2.2mV output, Otello works well with most MM phono preamps. All Soundsmith cartridges are Made in the USA. Moving Iron Design
A Moving Iron cartridge design has both the magnets and the coils fixed in place. A very low-mass and extremely precisely wound iron cross is affixed to the cantilever/stylus assembly and placed between the magnets and coils; as the iron cross moves in the magnetic field it generates signal voltage. Since only the iron cross moves, more coil windings (higher output) and heavier magnets (more powerful) may be used without penalty. Other advantages to the MI design are very low moving mass (greater resolution) and superior channel separation (better imaging). Moving Iron History
Also called Moving Micro Cross, the Moving Iron concept was first introduced by Bang & Olufsen in 1978 and granted a patent shortly thereafter. The ultra-high compliance of MI designs made them a great match with B&O’s lightweight tonearms and, unfortunately, virtually unusable with modern (and heavier) tonearm designs. Thus, MI cartridges have never really entered the consciousness of audiophiles in the way that Moving Coil and Moving Magnet cartridges have, until now. Made in the USA
Soundsmith is a specialty audio manufacturer located about an hour north of New York City. Founded in 1972, Soundsmith has achieved an enviable reputation in the audiophile world for outstanding sonic quality and extremely high-value products. Perhaps best known now for their work restoring cartridges and for their own line of Moving Iron cartridges, every Soundsmith product is hand-crafted in Soundsmith’s Peekskill, NY factory by a carefully selected team of artisans and engineers. Specifications:
Stylus: Elliptical Titanium Bonded, 0.20mm Round
Radius of curvature: 6 x 17 µm
Cantilever: Aluminum Alloy
Recommended Tracking Force: 1.2 gm (Max)
Effective tip mass: 0.50 mg
Compliance: 28 µm/mN (high)
Frequency Response: 20-20,000 Hz (±2.5 dB)
Channel Separation: 1000 Hz: >24 dB 50-15,000 >20 dB
Channel Difference: <1.8 dB
Output Voltage: 2.2 mV
Weight: 6.8 Gms
Impedance: >/= 47 kOhms
Capacitance: 100-200pF
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