Special Order. Please contact us for an approx. ETA. Thank you.
The Helios is hand-made to order in the USA. This medium output cartridge was designed to fill the need for audiophiles that have moderate gain preamplifiers and to perform flawlessly in preamps that utilize a 48dB-54dB gain structure. As a result, no fear of overloading with a high output MM cartridge or having to ramp up the volume with a low output MC type. This cartridge was based on the Hyperion Moving Iron design and now gives the same level of performance as its sibling. Without any tradeoffs, this new medium output cartridge will breathe new life and alter expectations from audio system front-ends with moderate gain!
Superior cantilever designs have always employed tapered cantilevers - Hard to do with aluminum, and all but impossible with the super hard and durable materials, such as boron, ruby or diamond. Cantilevers must also have dualistic qualities that are mutually exclusive; both stiffness and damping are required. The tapered, longitudinal stacked columnar fibers, stacked and damped with desiccated resin are exactly what one would build if one could - fortunately “nature” has done it for us. The best of both worlds - extreme rigidity, internal damping, and tremendous strength define what Soundsmith feels is the best cantilever that can be built. Used in conjunction with their most highly refined Moving Iron cartridge design, the Helios has realized their hope - to further resolve the enjoyment of vinyl replay. Soundsmith's moving iron design allows the required stationary magnetic parts to be rigidly held in exact position at all times thereby allowing dramatic reduction of the moving mass in the generating system.
Features:
• Soundsmith's fully shielded design allows totally hum-free operation, RF shielding, and extreme mechanical stability.
• Ultra low effective moving mass resulting in superlative transient and micro detail performance
• Precision formed Cactus Needle Cantilever (Patents Pending) with Selected Contact Line Nude diamond stylus
• Composite body featuring impedance matched energy transmission system
• Virtually hum-free operation due to six-sided HyMu80 magnetic shielding
• 10 Year Warranty includes Free Retipping to the original owner
Specifications:
| Type: |
Fixed Coil / Moving Iron |
| Mount: |
Standard ½” |
| Stylus: |
Contact Line, Nude, 0.10 mm square |
| Radius of Curvature: |
Contact Line or Optimized Contact Line |
| Cantilever: |
Hand formed/treated selected Cactus "Spine" |
| Recommended Tracking Force: |
1.8 - 2.2 g |
| Effective Tip Mass: |
0.30 mg |
| Compliance: |
12 μm/mN vertical, 7 μm/mN horizontal
10 μm/mN (LT Version) |
| Frequence Response: |
20 - 20,000 Hz ± 1.0 dB |
Channel Separation
@ 1000 Hz: |
> 36 dB
> 34 dB (LT version)
N/A (Mono version) |
Channel Separation
@ 50 - 15,000 Hz: |
> 25 dB
N/A (Mono version) |
| Channel Difference: |
< 0.5 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: |
10.25 g |
| Recommended Load Resistance: |
≥ 1.5 kΩ |
| Recommended Load Capacitance: |
n/a |
