Anyone else having trouble getting cartridges back they sent for repair?

Chak,

Sorry to hear that. I have not attempted to replace a stylus for many years so I am not up on those things. But its a disappointment to me that things are they way they are in regards to keeping phono carts running well especially since stylus wear is normal and nothing new. That’s why things used to be the way they were.

I guess its like owning a luxury car. TCO is much higher, not just the selling price. Except timely good service is part of the deal.

I guess high end phono carts are a very niche thing in comparison these days so it is what it is.

But people should know these things before drinking the high end vinyl kool aid these days to avoid regret perhaps later with certain more esoteric carts that will be hard to replace or get serviced when inevitably needed.

When my Denon DL103R goes up finally one day, I will simply just replace it with another.

.

Cleeds,

Thanks for that info. I knew the stylus replacement train jumped the tracks at some point. But at least with the Denon DL103R performance is high and cost to replace is not horrible.

I guess being an older guy who remembers how things were back in the day does not help. I helped hundreds of customers replace their styli back then for very nominal cost. MC carts were still quite rare back then. Times change.

Are there any companies these days that feature great sounding carts with reasonable cost for user to replace the stylus easily themselves? That’s something that would appeal to me next time I am in the market for a phono cart.

The list of the re-tippers provided by chakster can be extended

with Peter Ledermann and Andy. What our members need to know

is the following. The choice is not only between the re-tippers but

also about what kind of cantilever and stylus one prefers. The

supplier of styli and cantilevers are not willing to supply every

retipper with their products. Axel, for example, can't deliver Saphire

or Ruby cantilevers nor the micro ridge styli. The other can't deliver

Gyger (aka Van den Hul) styli, etc. Nobody is willing to provide

Axel with coils so he is not able to repair coils or he need to buy

the relevant cart to get the coils needed. The assumption is that

manufacturer try to prevent styli/cantilever producers to supply

re-tippers with parts. Considering the difference of prices involved

by the manufacturer and retippers not suprising. So if one wants

specific cantilever/stylus combo one need to know by which

retipper one can get those. So the question is not only ''which

retipper?'' but also what kind of stylus/cantilever one wants and

where one can get those.