Soundsmith Carmen Mk2 Cartridge
We are not permitted to offer this brand of cartridge outside the UK.
Created out of the desire to make a very high performance design at an affordable price, the Soundsmith Carmen MK2 Cartridge was crafted to have unparalleled purity of tone and ultra-smooth presentation. Just slightly lush with a well-developed midrange, the Carmen is surprisingly pleasing and will seduce you into long, late listening sessions.
The stylus used is a large part of what makes it special; an ultra-low mass occlusion free nude diamond cut and polished into a true hyper-elliptical shape. The combination of low tip mass and the Fixed Coil design gives the Carmen a tremendous resolution advantage over MC designs selling for more than twice the price. Housed in a handmade solid Ebony case, the Carmen delivers.
Also available in dual-coil mono.
Long term investment due to rebuild
Reviews
“I get emails from audio enthusiasts and music lovers around the world asking for recommendations of a relatively affordable phonograph cartridge that is warm, dimensional, musical, and has relatively high output so you don’t have to use an expensive step-up transformer with it to play music…”
Positive Feedback
Specifications
- Cartridge Type: Fixed Coil
- Output: High
- Available As Dual Coil Mono: Yes
- Stylus: Nude Elliptical, 0.120mm SQ
- Radius of curvature: 6 x 17 μm
- Cantilever: Aluminum Alloy
- Recommended tracking force: 12mN / 1.2 gm (high), 14mN / 1.4 gm (medium)
- Effective tip mass: 0.35 mg
- Compliance: 28 μm/mN (high), 22 μm/mN (medium)
- Frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz ± 2.5 dB
- Channel separation (stereo only): 1000 Hz >26 dB, 50-15,000 >20 dB
- Channel difference: <1.6 dB (Stereo), <1.0 dB (Mono)
- Output voltage: 2.12 mV
- Cartridge weight: 6.8 grams
- Loading: ≥ 47 kΩ
