Soundsmith's turnaround time?

Hello Raul,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I do like how the Benz MO.9 sounded when it was new very much. However, I notice that the newer wood bodied Benz's have switched to the line contact stylus instead of the eliptical stylus. I'm sure that this has changed the sound, but does that really mean it's better? I don't know.

I understand that switching to the Ruby cantiliever and line contact stylus would change the sound from how it originally was, but I do not know how it would change. Do you have any idea of how the character of the sound would change? What it's sonic attributes may be?

In stock form, I felt that the cartridge sounded very balanced from top to bottom, not highlighting any one area of the frequency. It had detail, but not "hyper-detail". It had warmth, but not bloated. It's dynamics sounded natural to me, not exagerated. I wonder how this all would change if the cantiliever was changed from boron to ruby, and the stylus from eliptical to line contact?

I guess if there is no way of knowing, then to be safe I should ask Soundsmith to retip as close to the original as possible, as you have suggested.

Thank you for your comments.
No Regrets

No_regrets, you will have no regret going with a line contact. It is a superior way to read the groove so it just is over an eliptical is the point(literally), that has nothing to do with the original cartridge design or tone. Cheaper stylus, less efficient is still a cheaper stylus and less efficient in your original, it will just make the details of your cartridge and its true potential come that much closer putting the better stylus on it, change the sound, almost likely no matter what to the up side if anything.

Don't worry about it trust me, go with the better line contact, the 250 version is fine and will NOT be a negative effect over the original that much is for sure in most cartridges, but making a miracle or sounding a whole lot better is not guaranteed either.

Don't worry about the downside is the point, there will not be one from everybody that has had the soundsmith treatment I am sure will tell you over and over. If this risk was built into a 2500 dollar investment getting a retip vs. a 250 then you might want to second guess, and the original at a cheaper price would be fine, but get the better stylus no doubt in this case.

FWIW, Peter put his best "optimized line-contact diamond" on the stock boron cantilever of my Lyra Helikon. To the best of my recollection the cartridge sounds better than new. It looks quite different from the stock Lyra LC tip. However with this one you do need to take special care with azimuth.

Dear No_regrets: +++++ " I wonder how this all would change if the cantiliever was changed from boron to ruby, and the stylus from eliptical to line contact? " +++++

well I can't say for sure IMHO no one can say it. What IMHO is for sure is that you will have a " different " cartridge with those mods.

+++++ " In summary, rather than what is better or worse, these stylus profiles were designed with different philosophies and priorities, and different styli may be preferred depending on what the cartridge designer wants to achieve for a specific model. " +++++

this was posted by J.Carr ( Lyra cartridge designer. ) in other thread and his point is very important: cartridge design is executed with the cartridge " parts " that can achieve the cartridge designer targets.
So if we change the stock/original cartridge build " parts " ( cantilever and stylus shape. ) then we are changing its quality performance. Btw, Dgarretson point out that with a line contact stylus shape we need additional care on the set up, if not what we gain is more distortions that normally we can hear it like a more high frequency false shine and brigtness.

Who can asure you that a different cantilever/stylus in that Benz Micro M0.9 cartridge motor works at its best. Undertow can say it? certainly not, only Benz Micro can.

What you posted as the cartridge quality performance tell me that that cartridge is really good overall. If you want to change that then IMHO maybe is better to buy a new and diffrent cartridge but seems to me that you are really satisfied with what you have on that cartridge.

A line contact stylus shape could give/change ( mainly ) the cartridge high frequency range, could this affect the cartridge tonal balance?, sure it can.

Now and along my audio experiences with 200+ different cartridges not always the line contact stylus shape cartridges shows better quality performance many times the cartridges with elipthical stylus are far better performers even in the same model cartridges where exist both stylus shape for the same cartridge.

In a cartridge design and in a cartridge quality performance IMHO the cantilever/stylus shape are important characteristics for the cartridge performance but there are other very important build/parts that contribute to the cartridge signature.

IMHO there are very low know how on the subject by the audio people and that's why you can read opinions/post like this: """ when my cartridge comeback from SS or VdH ( with a non VdH cartridge. ) performs better than ever, better than original """"

the majority of the time that re-tipped cartridge was not better but only different.

I posted that when I really like the cartridge quality performance always send it to fix it to the original designer/manufacturer if still exist.

This give us several advantages not only that the cartridge signature ( that's what I like/enjoy ) prevail but that that original cartridge manufacturer ( in your case Benz Micro. ) fix the cartridge where he do it with all the up-dates that that cartridge had over time and that only the original cartridge manufacturer knows. Many times the cartridge manufacturer makes changes/parts in the original cartridge design and even they don't tell to anybody but when we send our cartridge you can be sure that will return with the up-dates. This for me has an additional cartridge value and only the original cartridge manufacturer can do it.

A non original re-tipper has lower price to fix a cartridge but can't give us what is really important for us: to preserve what we like it and the cartridge up-dates.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

To each his own. If you have no plans to change cartridges and want to get your cartridge fixed respectfully and for a great price, Soundsmith is an excellent service. You will still hear the characteristics of the cartridge and you just may even like what you hear even more. After all, that is what matters most. How YOU like it.