I damanged my Shelter cartridge, next steps?....


Hi Folks:
Well, I managed to damage my Shelter 501 mkII by, well, bumping into it. So, to cut a long story short, the stylus is leaning to one side horizontally, and is pointing more steeply vertically (wider angle between end of stylus and body of cartridge). Finally, the stylus appeas to be more 'springy' and is not as rigid.

So, question is, can I salvage it? Should I try to orient it correctly, or can it be 'reseated'. The stylus does not appear to be bent or broken - just out of correct orientation, and a little loose. Anyway, I'd value advice on whether this can be fixed, and who I might bring it to for such a fix. The cartridge is about 2.2 years old and has about 250 hours on it.

Looking forward to hearing any recommendations on next steps. IF I have to replace the cartridge, I'd also welcome input on replacements. I've a teres 255 with OL Silver Arm. Preamp is Supratek Syrah.

Thanks!!!
John.
128x128outlier
Outlier - just talk to the analog department at Music Direct. That is the standard replacement deal from Shelter as I understand it. They said it cannot be repaired but I had to send them the old one, probably to prove I wasn't just trying to buy a new one for cheap.
Dear Tom: My questions are because I have two different Supex ( well there are already sold. I will ship next monday ) and, about sound reproduction, the Celebration is totally different.

Today that I read my post to you I can " see " that was a little aggressive, sorry for that. That was not my intention.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
I am late to the thread but, boy do I have a story. Years ago I bought a Benz Glider. Few weeks later, while dusting the tip went bye-bye. For a $300 fee I got a replacement. Few months later I did the same thing and paid another $300. I used it for a while and got spooked that it would happen again. I went to a dealer to trade it in on a wood body L-04 for the protection factor. At the dealer, I took the Glider out of the box to show him. He took one out to compare and placed them both on the counter. Well he placed them so close together on the counter that the magnets attracted to each other!! The sytlus in his new Glider was nowhere to be found. To this day, I live with that fear and will not own a "nude" cartridge.
So, to update on the Shelter issue - even though the cantilever is askew (both vertically and horizontally) and the suspension is quite loose, I reinstalled the Shelter on my OL Silver, and Teres 255 (just got the 255 platter, so had to let it settle into place). I seated the Shelter skewing to one side so that the needle could at least line up correctly with the groove. And, well, it's the darndest thing, but it sounds damn good?! The cartridge is aligled at about a 15 degree angle (in order to line the cantilever up straigt with the grooves), and the cantilever is way steeper into the groove vertically than it should be = maybe at about an additional 15 degree angle between the cartridge body and the cantilever (but, I guess because the suspension is loose, it ends up being pretty ideal angle when the tracking force is applied). So, I was very skeptical of getting anything close to real sound, but it sounds fantastic...Open question is, am I putting a strain on the records (over wearing one side of the groove?), although the channel seperation sounds perfect, with no etching present at all on my choice recordings. Also, I'm practically waiting for the needle to fall out or something, but so far, so good.Anyway, all told, I guess I'll continue to run the Shelter 'as is' until I hear otherwise - and am now less inclined to fork out $$ on a new/used heavy-hitter cartridge like an Airy 2/3 etc (which I've been considering). I did order a Denon DL-103 from the UK though, which didn't cost me much, and I guess will be a great comparison (and back up cartridge) to the Shelter. Anyway, thanks guys for the advice and guidance on getting through this problem. I'm a bit embarassed to see that the cartridge is still usable (that my diagnosis of fatality was off target, but I'm thrilled too ;-) Anyway, just wanted to post an update. Hopefully I'll be getting some more blissful hours out of this Shelter yet.
You cannot rely on this cartridge to have proper alignment at this time, John.
It could possibly be damaging your records to play it like that.