I have had Peter rebuild some Benz carts for me ( up to Ebony L ) and the work and process and communication is all first rate. The reality is they come back sounding different for SURE.
I have certainly heard his stuff up thru Carmen and he js a designer of note - but he shouldn’t be your only source - only one person on earth knows everything and feels confident recommending products he has never heard.
Lyra and Hana would both be on my shortlist as well as Dynavector. Hoping that Dyna discount program works out.
best
Jim |
A Cartridge that has been unfortunate to have a Stylus broken off, where the break is seen to be within the Cartridges Main Body, is a very different damage to a Stylus being broke as a result of a bend in it, or a Stylus needing to be re-tipped.
A stylus break within the body can damage the whole connection assembly inside, the bobbin and generator can incur damages, and these may not be able to be set back up to the manufacturers build specification.
A Cartridge may be returned as working after a treatment, but it may also be compromised in its performance.
I would be careful when going down this route, and would need to be completely assured of the success that can be produced with a rebuild. |
I put this in the wrong thread earlier.
I should correct something. When i commented earlier i meant new cantilevered not retip. SoundSmith calls themselves retippers but mostly as far as i know they prefer to recantilever. All three that i had done were recantilevered. I don't actually hear much about just retipping. Correct me if this is wrong.
@chakster
|
I have sent my cartridge to Andy at needle clinic for a new cantilever and stylus.
Will advise once I get it back. |
No one can explain better than J.Carr (Lyra) who is a cartridge designer himself. An this is what he said: To retip a cartridge that was originally equipped with a stylus made by one manufacturer with one made by a different manufacturer is like rebuilding a Porsche engine with Jaguar pistons and crankshaft - the components used for rebuilding may be of high quality, but the design philosophy is rather different from the original.
Still, as one poster wrote above, changing only the stylus will alter the sound less than if the cantilever material is changed. When a cartridge is designed, the designer will consider the moving mass (sum of the stylus, cantilever and coils), the resonant character of the cantilever, and the (sonic) propagation velocity of the cantilever (affected by the cantilever’s mass and rigidity), then choose the suspension and dampers accordingly. If you change the cantilever material, you are effectively throwing the original designer’s calculations away. -J.Carr I think it’s very important. Re-tipper will never tell you this, because they want you to pay for their service and your cartridge will work after their service, but how and for how long no one will tell you. Even a person who owned original and shipped it for retip will get it in a few month and can’t even compare it to the original anymore. What you will get is no longer original cartridge and no longer original sound concept of the cartridge invented by its designer. Of course it depends how good was the original cartridge to your ears, but you get the idea. |
