SoundSmith Sapphire cantilever upgrade to CA Virtuoso?

Hi Chakster,

Yep, there are so many cartridges to choose from! I selected the Maestro V2 because I know the Clear Audio MM house sound, plus Fremer's review of the cart, and the Zephyr because it is suppose to work so well with the JWM 9 on my Scoutmaster (I use a Reflex M), plus I've read only positive comments about the cart and Soundsmith company. The low cost for a complete rebuild is also appealing.

Has anyone compared these two cartridges and could characterize how the Zephyr sound would differ from the Maestro? 

Maestro V2 or Zephyr MK III

but why only these two ? 

Thanks for everyones input. I am looking into cartridges that would be considered an upgrade, but my budget is limited--mostly looking at a used Maestro V2 or Zephyr MK III with low use.

There seems to be mixed opinions about whether a new stylus improves the sound quality of the Virtuoso. Many say there's a big improvement with the 95ML, like Rauliruegas, or the Soundsmith Sapphire stylus, but some say not, so it doesn't seem like it would be a waste to try a new stylus, if I can't find something else used.

Drew

I would send it in for repair, then keep as a spare.

I would upgrade to something else if I wanted an upgrade

Dear @drewharty : I owned the Virtuoso ( same At motor than the 95. ) and own the 95 with elliptical stylus tip and the 95ML version and I can tell you that's a true improvement with better quality performance levels.
In the other side is really unexpensive.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

I broke the cantilever on my Virtuoso Wood and had the Ruby retip done by Soundsmith.  It sounded very nice, but I'm not sure I'd consider it an "upgrade".  If you want to upgrade, get a different cartridge.  If you've broken the cantilever, Andy Kim also does a nice job of re-tipping.

Normally people refurbish MC cartridges with SoundSmith, except for a few very popular vintage MM models where the original Ruby cantilever was an option from the manufacturer back in the day. Grace cartridges for example. There was an original Grace RUBY and SoudSmith upgrade is also RUBY (with different stylus tip). This is OK. 

Your Clear Audio has Audio-Technica motor inside, you want to upgrade Aluminum cantilever with Sapphire cantilever. Maybe it will be better, maybe not. Why do you want to keep using Virtuoso (even refurbished) ? Did you try to compare this model to anything else ? 

There are Clear Audio cartridges with Boron cantilever, maybe you can add Boron instead of Sapphire ? 

You'd better ask Peter at SoundSmith what is the optimal. 

I will likely upgrade the cartridge at some point but thought a new stylus might be a temporary step, as the cart needs one and I am upgrading other parts of my system now.

That said, I haven't read a single bad review of others who have had Soundsmith refurbish their cartridge. I am just looking for someone who some opinions about Sapphire cantilever with the Contact line stylus on a Virtuoso cart.

I wouldn't mess around with this either. A whole new Soundsmith would be better. 

Buy another (better) cartridge if you want to upgrade, refurbished MM cartridge is nonsence in my opinion. 

For the budget of Clear Audio you could find Grace Level II with original Ruby or even Boron/MicroRidge stylus. 

Did you destroy that unprotected cantilever on Clear Audio? This is a weak part of their design (imo). 

Some cheaper and better cartridges under $700 are always great alternative to refurbishing. Audio-Technica AT-ML170 is one of the best ever.