Entry-Level High-End in Description and Cost Only: Hand-Built, U.S.A.-Made Soundsmith Otello ES Moving-Iron Phono Cartridge Plays with Exceptional Tone, Resolution, Ease, and Naturalism

Otello ES, Soundsmith's most affordable moving-iron phono cartridge, is entry-level in description and price only. Offering exceptional tone and resolution, Otello ES handles every type of music with wondrous ease and sit-up-and-take-notice naturalism. Slightly warmer-sounding that the company's other models, the hand-built fixed-coil design plays vinyl LPs with stellar richness, arresting speed, and wowing dynamics. Its presentation will bowl you over by way of its beauty, soundstaging, and clarity – feats that definitely do not come easily for under-$1k cartridges let alone models that cost under $500. We're not exaggerating when we say this is one special analog component – particularly since it can be rebuilt for a fraction of its original MSRP and sports a new function-first architecture.

Visually defined by a new, sleek body that resists the uncontrolled vibrations of traditional "boxy" cartridges, Otello ES features a significant evolution of Soundsmith's DEMS (Dynamic Energy Management System). ES cartridges direct internal vibrational forces without reflection and disperse them properly to the tonearm. Such absence of reflections enables the stylus to stay in far greater statistical contact with the groove walls, leading to increased liquidity, reduced "grain," and preservation of valuable detail. Azimuth adjustment is also built into each model, along with the option for electrical isolation for hum-prone systems.

"Consistently entertaining sound with great sense of musical satisfaction."
—Hi-Fi Choice, Recommended review

Advantages of Moving-Iron Designs

A moving-iron cartridge 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 MI designs are very low moving mass (greater resolution) and superior channel separation (better imaging).

Buy With Confidence: Otello ES Can Be Rebuilt for a Fraction of the Original Cost

Otello ES benefits from infallible customer support and a wonderful safety net. Soundsmith is the only high-end cartridge company that rebuilds its own products at a fraction of the original price – no matter what the issue. Equally important, moving-iron cartridges can always be rebuilt, unlike MC designs sometimes damaged beyond possible repair.

Soundsmith Moving-Iron Cartridges Offer Best of Both Worlds

Enjoy the best of both worlds: Soundsmith's moving-iron cartridges encompass the advantages of moving-coil and moving-magnet designs while simultaneously lessening or eliminating the respective approaches' deficiencies. Boasting extraordinary tracking abilities that let them effortlessly sail through complex musical passages, a warm and detailed character, exceptional transient response, and a full sound that completes entire notes and finishes instrumental structures, Soundsmith models exude natural musicality and high-end design.