Shelter 501 mkii then what now

I have only used a SS Level 2 stylus on my 501 since buying it used: under a microscope it the original stylus showed a lot of wear and the seller kindly and immediately paid for a retip. Pretty cool.

So: the Level 2 is revelatory for me, particularly against the elliptical styli Shelter likes to use. It simply gets into areas of the groove that haven't been played before, and reawakens a lot of older records I'd written off. I really am an adherent of the Level 2 upgrade because its profile isn't as severe and difficult to line up as the Shibata Level 3 tip. Hope this helps.

I talked to Andy Kim and he told me the micro line stylus with the Boron cantilever would make it better than a 901 improve the sound more than $100,000 amp so this is the the way I'm headed I'll keep you all informed

What is the original cantilever? (Aluminum, boron, or Ruby/sapphire?). And what is the shape of the OEM stylus? Thx.

I had a 501 re-tipped at SoundSmith with the OCR.  It was fine.  But it was easy to tell that an Audio Technica Art-9 outperformed it.  The re-tipped 501 was easy to sell.

I do not believe in re tipping. If you want it remanufactured send it back to Shelter. The Clearaudio Essence MC and the Audio Technic AT ART9 are both excellent trackers and solid sonic performers. I have never listened to the Shelter so I can not compare but to get significantly better performers than these you would have to spend 3-4 times as much.