How old is your cartridge?

Dear @audite84 : When you be ready to the re-tip put in contact with me and I will give you the information to contact directly with and I have to tell you that dealing with is not expensive.

What makes to talk persons as the one here against the Technics superior quality level performance just speak because their very low knowledge levels.

I remember that when I had to send my EPC100C MK4 to been fixed by VdH another gentleman here had the same problem ( both of us bougth the cartridges from the same seller in NOS condition and were the stand alone version not the one with integrated headshell. ) and I gave him the information about.

Things were that this gentleman just bougth a Lyra Atlas LOMC cartridge and when the Technics came back to him he posted here that performed even better than his Atlas.

I repeat those Technics models are way superior to the ATs, Stantons or even almost all vintage MM/MI cartridges but the AKG P100LE and the ADC 26/27.

There are several vintage MM/MI cartridges where you need and keep your " eyes " on it as: Astatic MF-2500, Empire 4000/D3, Grado The AmberTribute, Sonus Dimension5, Nagaoka MP50 Super, Nagatron 9600, Shure Ultra 500, Acutex 320 III STR,  Azden YM-P50VL, Micro Acoustic MA630, Grado G-1+.

You can be sure that any one of them beats AT/Stanton and the like. Yes you need patience to find out any of them. Keep in touch.

In the other side today MM/MI/LOMC cartridges are excellent performers and with the advantage of manufacturer warranty.

R.

Recently had my Benz L2 (not sure of age but it's older) rebuilt by Steve at VAS.  I think he can pretty much rebuild anything that's wrong with one from replacing a worn stylus to a complete rebuild.  Did a great job too. 
vasnyinc.com

@chakster I think the suspension is fine because the cartridge sounds very good. That's my only way of telling. But it is old, so it is possible that the suspension is suboptimal. And thank you for your contribution to the discussion. 

@rauliruegas Thank you. I'm just wondering, is it a good idea to have it retipped with a finer profile? 

I think the suspension is fine because the cartridge sounds very good.

When suspension is softened a cartridge body will be too close to the record surface with recommended tracking force. But the stylus tip on mk3 is very tall, so even if the damper is almost dead there will be some tiny gap anyway. However, this situation is not normal, but it’s a compromise. We discussed Technics low riders with Nadric million times on this forum :) It’s very hard to find a Technics cartridge without softened rubber damper, unfortunately it’s a problem of this brand (I tried so many times).

Dear @audite84: As I posted the re-tipper will check suspension too and if need it to fix it then he will does.

Now, VdH will use it’s own stylus profile/shape that Dr. VDH designed: the VdH one that’s way better than the original and that is the one he uses with the VDH cartridges ( yes, finer profile. ).
Don’t worry about your MK3 will sounds/performs better than ever.

R.