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Cartridge retip stylus options/Opinions please

Hi guys,

I have two cartridges that I want to have retipped: Shelter 901 and Monster AG2000. The Shelter comes stock with an elliptical stylus and the Monster with micro ridge. Andy @ Needle Clinic will put a microridge on either for $450 ea. (line contact for $350, elliptical for $250). Soundsmith will put their best stylus (optimized nude contact line) on a sapphire cantilever for $399 ea. Both carts (esp the Monster) is very good in stock form based on my tastes; but, if I had a magic wand, I would say that I would prefer a little more openness and refinement in the highs with somewhat less emphasis on the mid bass from the Shelter; and a little more fullness from the Monster.

Any thoughts on the general quality of work to be expected from each retipper and/or the merits of each choice of stylus would be most appreciated.

Thanks!
frogman
frogman OP
7,456 posts
 
Thank you both for your thoughts. I think I will be sending them to Andy for retips only.

Chris, another cartridge that I will be sending to Andy for repair is a Vandenhul MC1 that I "nuded", mounted on my ET and used nude (on and off) for years (mounting nuded transducers is a favorite activity ;-) ) Anyway, attracted ferrous particles was never a problem; however, once during mounting the magnets attracted a mounting screw (won't touch that one) that I thought was non-ferrous and it severed one of the thin wires going to the back of one of the cartridge pins. Btw, the improvement in sound from nuding was not subtle.
tunes409's avatar
tunes409
19 posts
 
By far Van Den Hul does the best Cartrudge rebuild in the industry.Nobody can even renotely do what this 78 year old master can. Turmaround time is 5-6 weeks
ct0517's avatar
ct0517
2,041 posts
 
Frogman - don't forget to ask Andy or whoever does the work for you to take a little extra time to inspect the old stylus before discarding. The wear pattern tells an intimate story of the person's vinyl setup. :^)
frogman OP
7,456 posts
 
Very good tip (no pun), Chris. Will do, and thanks!
vpi's avatar
vpi
223 posts
 
Frogman,
If you haven't already sent them off, for what its worth I had Soundsmith repair a Lyra Clavis from which I had sheared off the cantilever.  While I was moderately pleased with the result it was not the same as my original Clavis.  For this reason, I think retip only without replacing the cantilever is probably the way to go.
Harry
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