Soundsmith Paua MKII Cartridge

Soundsmith Paua MKII Low-Output HiFi Turntable Cartridge

What Sets the Soundsmith Paua MKII Apart from Other Fixed Coil Cartridges?

The Soundsmith Paua MKII is an upgraded version of the original Paua, a cartridge that received Editor's Choice recognition from The Absolute Sound in 2015. Soundsmith builds the MKII as a Fixed Coil, Moving Iron design, a configuration the brand uses across its range to keep internal moving mass low. A lighter moving assembly tracks the record groove with less stylus jitter, so the cartridge returns less self-generated noise to the signal and produces a cleaner output before any amplification takes place. The defining change in this revision is a newly developed aluminium alloy used for the cantilever, engineered with the stiffness needed for accurate mechanical leverage alongside damping in specific sections of the acoustic spectrum, which together govern how cleanly the stylus motion translates into an electrical signal.

Which Tonearms Will the Paua MKII Mount To?

The Paua MKII fits a standard half-inch mounting pattern, so it suits the great majority of tonearms used on turntables built for interchangeable cartridges without an adapter. At 12.2g, the cartridge sits within the weight range most tonearms are designed to handle, and its compliance of 10 µm/mN is a figure worth checking against your tonearm's effective mass: compliance and arm mass together set the mechanical resonance of the arm-cartridge pairing, and getting this match right keeps that resonance clear of the frequencies your records actually contain.

What Phono Stage Does the Paua MKII Need?

The Paua MKII outputs a low 0.4mV at 5cm/sec, so it depends on a phono stage capable of 58 to 64dB of gain to bring the signal up to line level without adding excessive noise. Its coil measures 10Ω DC resistance with 2.75mH of inductance per channel, and Soundsmith specifies a recommended load resistance of 470Ω or greater for the input stage; getting the load resistance right preserves the cartridge's frequency response rather than rolling it off prematurely. No load capacitance figure applies, since fixed-coil designs of this type are far less sensitive to cable and input capacitance than moving-magnet cartridges.

How Do You Set Up Tracking Force for This Cartridge?

Soundsmith recommends a tracking force of 1.7 to 1.9g for the Paua MKII, a range that works with its 0.30mg effective tip mass to keep the nude Contact Line stylus seated correctly in the groove through high-velocity passages. Setting tracking force within this window, alongside correct anti-skate and azimuth alignment on your tonearm, is what lets the cartridge reach the channel separation figures it's specified for: greater than 34dB at 1000Hz and greater than 25dB across 50Hz to 15,000Hz, with channel difference held below 0.5dB. These figures describe how distinct the left and right channels remain from one another, which depends as much on correct setup as on the cartridge itself.

Who Is the Paua MKII Designed For?

The Paua MKII suits owners building or upgrading an analogue front end who want a cartridge that holds onto fine musical detail while smoothing the overall presentation, rather than emphasising one at the expense of the other. Soundsmith positions it as a step up from the standard Paua for listeners who already value the brand's fixed-coil approach and want the latest cantilever development without changing stylus profile or mounting standard. Every Paua MKII is hand-assembled at Soundsmith's Peekskill, New York factory, a detail relevant to buyers who want a cartridge built and finished by the same specialist team responsible for the company's cartridge restoration and repair work for established hi-fi brands.

How Does the Telescoping Cantilever and Stylus Profile Work Together?

The Paua MKII's cantilever is built from a telescoping aluminium alloy, a construction method that lets Soundsmith vary stiffness and damping along its length rather than relying on a single uniform tube. This matters because the cantilever is the mechanical link between stylus and coil: any flex or resonance introduced here shows up directly in the output signal, so controlling stiffness and damping zones independently gives Soundsmith more control over how faithfully stylus motion reaches the generator. At the stylus end, the Paua MKII uses a nude Contact Line tip ground to a 0.10mm square profile. This shape is cut closer to the geometry of the lathe stylus used to master vinyl records than a simple elliptical or conical tip, so it makes contact with more of the groove wall actually carved during cutting, which is the underlying reason this stylus type is associated with accurate retrieval of high-frequency groove information. Across the audible band, the cartridge is specified at 20Hz to 20,000Hz within ±1.0dB, a flat response that depends on the cantilever and stylus working as the matched pair Soundsmith has engineered them to be.

Phono Cartridge Guides

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