Sumiko

Sumiko is pleased to premiere Wellfleet, the newest addition to the Rainier collection (first described in issue 21). The brand has upgraded its design of the Moonstone cartridge, retuning the suspension for optimal performance of a nude elliptical diamond with the existing generator and resonance-optimized housing found in the rest of the Rainier series. Wellfleet uses a highly polished nude elliptical stylus, eliminating the bonding between the stylus tip and shank. With the new assembly, excessive mass in the cantilever shank is cut away to reduce further moving mass, resulting in a faster, more direct, and more accurate response of the stylus' movement. Sonically, this increases speed and focuses central images, pulling them toward the listener with a heightened sense for detail. With the Wellfleet, vocals are immediate, clear, and detailed, and their natural warmth is most apparent. Backup vocals become easier to discern, and the listener is able to identify distinct instrumentation such as the rattle of snare drums, or the woody twang of a vintage acoustic guitar. Bass is tight and well-controlled. The cartridge housing disperses and dissipates resonances, making way for effortless and transparent sonics that are characterized by intimate nuance. The voicing is true to natural harmonics, space around voices and instruments, and their attacks and decays.

Five stylus variations capable of using this generator are currently available . Rainier owners can upgrade to Olympia, Moonstone RS 78 for 78 RPM playback, and now Wellfleet with a simple stylus swap. This provides a simple and inexpensive upgrade path that users can employ for many years to achieve increasing LP playback enjoyment.