Special Order. Please contact us for an approx. ETA. Thank you.
Soundsmith's Norma cartridge is a medium-output version of the incredible Aida high-output cartridge. It is a triumph of Soundsmith Engineering, Stereophile Class “A” rated, a rarity at its price point. Built with love and respect for your hard earned dollars. Every cartridge is carefully hand built, tested and records of each cartridges performance are kept by serial number. Those that meet or exceed specifications are sold. But, there are always a few that don't measure well. What do we do with them? We don't sell them. We break them down and re-use some parts that can be used again. If your phonostage has a fixed gain setting between 48dB-58dB, 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.
Our cartridges overturn the myth that moving coil cartridges are the only path towards perfection. After all, the accepted “advantage” of moving coil cartridges is low effective moving mass. Less IS more. When you lower the moving system mass, it’s easier to control and 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. No high gain moving coil preamp is required. This cartridge was 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.
Specifications:
- Type: • Fixed Coil / Moving Iron
- Mount: • Standard ½”
- Stylus: • Contact Line, Nude, 0.10 mm square
- Radius of Curvature: • Optimized Contour Contact Line
- Cantilever: • Ruby
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Recommended Tracking Force: • 1.3 - 1.6 g Standard (Medium Compliance) • 1.0 - 1.2 g (Special Order High Compliance)
- Effective Tip Mass: • 0.30 mg
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Compliance: • 22 µm/mN (Medium Compliance) • 28 µm/mN (High Compliance)
- Frequence Response: • 20 - 20,000 Hz ± 2.5 dB
- Channel Separation @ 1000 Hz: • > 30 dB • N/A (Mono version)
- Channel Separation @ 50 - 15,000 Hz: • > 25 dB • N/A (Mono version)
- Channel Difference: • < 1.0 dB • < 1.0 dB (Mono version)
- Output Voltage @ 5cm/sec: • > 1.10 mV (MEDIUM)
- DC Resistance (DCR): • 110Ω
- Coil Inductance per channel: • 30 mH
- Suggested Preamp Gain: • 48 - 54 dB
- Cartridge Weight: • 6.80 g
- Recommended Load Resistance: • ≥ 1.5kΩ
- Recommended Load Capacitance: • n/a
