Soundsmith Mezzo

Made in the USA. Rebuild Price? ~  $650 ~  Less than 20% of MSRP, as always! – Includes a two-year warranty for original owner!

The Soundsmith Mezzo, Italian for middle or medium (output, not performance) is based on the amazing Soundsmith Sussurro Moving Iron Cartridge. 

Soundsmith is pleased to announce the Mezzo Medium Output cartridge designed to fill the need for audiophiles that have moderate gain preamplifiers from such esteemed manufacturers as Conrad-Johnson and Audio Research among many others.

Peter Ledermann designed the Mezzo cartridge to perform flawlessly in preamps that utilize a 48dB-54dB gain structure. 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. 

Based on Peter’s now classic Sussurro Moving Iron design, the Mezzo moderate output cartridge 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! 

Frank Schroder is not only a highly gifted tonearm designer and builder but also one of the most insightful audio engineers alive today. In an informal meeting with Frank and Soundsmith’s Peter Ledermann at an audio show, Frank suggested to Peter that he work on a low output moving iron cartridge design. Frank’s reasoning was impeccable and the seed for a new product was sown. Frank has been testing the Mezzo’s prototypes throughout the development phase, providing his insightful and invaluable feedback along the way. But the real story of The Soundsmith Mezzo is that it is a cartridge designed to specifically deal with the most critical issues of cartridge design. All cartridges must adhere to first principles, and do it carefully – to get sublime results. 

The Soundsmith Mezzo has an unbelievably low effective moving mass. The damping system has been critically tuned – so that ALL primary resonances are absolutely eliminated. Then, all critical stationary parts are fixed rigidly within its tiny magnetic structure and the fully shielded magnetic case is engineered to be far more rigid than any other cartridge. Finally, an innovative energy distribution system to dissipate the mechanical energy from the cantilever through the cartridge body into the tonearm properly. 

Soundsmith is very pleased with the Mezzo and you will be too – but be cautioned – when you first cue down to the first track, you will wind up playing the complete side and be very late for your meeting. Guaranteed! Once you’ve heard your new Mezzo cartridge, you’ll never go back.