Anybody out there re-cantilever their cartridge with a Soundsmith Contact Line diamond ?


The cantilever on my Dynavector 20x2 is damaged. Dynavector wants X number of dollars to exchange it. Then I read about Soundsmith's rebuild option, which is intriguing. A feature aspect of their cantilever rebuild is their Contact Line Diamond stylus as opposed to Dynavector's Micro Ridge Nude diamond.

 

"The Soundsmith Contact Line diamond stylus has three times the contact area in the vertical direction of the groove wall compared to an elliptical shaped diamond".

 

I thought I was in the clear, but now I'm informed that a Contact Line Diamond stylus with three times the contact area, picks up a ton of surface noise off the record. So much so that the surface noise can become forward on all but the most pristine records. So much so that the surface noise becomes intrusive.

 

Anyone out there had a Soundsmith modification done to their cartridge, if so which option had you had done, and what's been your expience?
thehorn
Interesting thread... :)My take on this is that, sure - if you have your cartridge rebuild by SoundSmith or someone else with similar rebuild-offering, the cartridge will not come back as being the same as the original and it will not sound the same as the original. This may not automatically be a bad thing, it can be a good thing, the cartridge may sound better than original - especially if you have an older cartridge with a simple cantilever and stylus. This way the service offering by Soundsmith etc can be less expensive than buying a new cartridge. 
But if you have a more exotic cartridge, like the Lyra etc or an exclusive Zyx, then this may not be such a good idea because Soundsmith etc. can't rebuild it to original status. You may or may not like the result. It can be a disaster. 
But for simpler and less exotic cartridges, common ones like Denon DL-103, 110/160, Dynavector 10x5 or 10x20, Sumiko BPS etc, a rebuild by SoundSmith may be a great solution and can also be an upgrade. 
chakster,  I just sent and old Lyra to Soundsmith for a retip. Are you saying I can get a better sounding cartridge for $450 than I will get back from Soundsmith? I understand it will not sound identical the original, but I expect it will sound great. Why wouldn't I do this?
@jsbail

Are you saying I can get a better sounding cartridge for $450 than I will get back from Soundsmith? I understand it will not sound identical the original, but I expect it will sound great. Why wouldn’t I do this?

This is the reason why i don’t understand people who buy LOMC cartridges from one manufacturer to rebuild them with a third party vendor. The logic behind this process is what i don’t understand. Lyra cartridge designer himself explained everything about it right on this forum.

The question is why do you need Lyra cartridge if you ended up with SoundSmith / Lyra hybrid ?

Why not just buy a SoundSmith cartridge instead ?
or another original Lyra cartridge if they can’t help you with your Lyra ?

Or why do you think a Lyra refurbished by SoundSmith is any better than original Lyra ?

If you think so why do you think you can’t find another cartridge that can be better than Lyra or Soundsmith ?

And yes, you can find a great NOS cartridges for $450-700, it can be very nice MM/MI or even LOMC

If you like LOMC i clearly remember what i paid for my NOS Dynavector Karat 23RS MR Ruby (Micro Ridge) sealed in the box, it was no more than $450 and it is a very nice LOMC in my opinion.







Dear @jsbail  : Normally when we have not the kind of money that the manufacturer ask for a replacement damaged  cartridge then the best option is to look for a re-tipper and Soundsmith is very well regarded and you will preserve the more important part: the cartridge motor that no rettiper can modified.

Yes, you re-tipped cartridge will not sound exactly the same as the original but will performs just great. Don't worry about that post that came from a seller.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
When I posted my sample to Axel he installed an new boron
cantilever and his ''nude Shibata'' instead of this ''remarkable''
ZYX cantilever. Why do you think that this way of installing the
stylus is better than usual? Or, to put this otherwise, why is one
extra tube necessary?

@nandric

I don't know why Nakatsuka-San designed this cantilever instead of using conventional cantilevers from suppliers. Maybe because he designed all the best MC cartridges in the past for brands like Monster Cable etc with conventional Boron cantilevers and after so many years he has found something better ? So many innovations in ZYX cartridges. 

When this stylus is wear off the new stylus can't be glued instead. So the whole new cantilever/stylus combo will be needed which is much more expensive than stylus only exchange. Or so I think because of my own experience.

So do you think he made it like that to serve his customers with a new cartridge instead ? The reason is to make in more difficult for re-tippers ? Maybe, i must say his cartridges are very expensive and he's free to choose a business model for him and his brand. 



BTW what I admire in Axel's work is his persistence to do his
job. As I wrote in my ''irreparable carts'' thread those glued
together plastic bodies have no ''entrance'' possibility to their
inside parts. How then should an ''retipper'' fix, say, the damping
 or the coils of such cart? Axel cut and drilled the body to get
inside. I don't believe other retipper will even try to do this.
BTW he was not able to fix this way my Sony XL 88 D.
This Sony was of the same ''plastic glued together body''.

It is because your personal relations with Axel, hope he's ok ? I think when re-tipper will accept a cartridge like that it will make his job even more expensive, still not guaranteed. 

When i read all these i think that taking in count all the risk and expenses on such exotic cartridges it is better to stay away from re-tippers, instead it is more logical to invest in original cartridge (same, next model or different one from another manufacturer). 

But i want to ask everybody:

If one must decide between ORIGINAL from the manufacturer and RE-TIPPED/re-furbished cartridge from someone else, which one would you get ? 

I think this is the answer for each of us. 

Some people just like to mess around with broken stuff. 

Regarding cartridges I've learned that many people on audiogon are happy to stick to one cartridge and even when it's broken they would like to invest even more in the dead horse. Some of them paid crazy amount of money to VdH to refurbish MM cartridges!

This is clearly not my philosophy. New or NOS original cartridge, even used original cartridge, is better than refurbished cartridge if this original cartridge is a good one. If it was a bad cartridge then maybe it is possible to upgrade it. This is what i think. 

And BTW Peter Ledermann keep telling us in every lecture than MI is better than all those LOMC... and he's the one who refurbished millions of cartridges. Having such unique experience do you believe he's able to design his own perfect cartridge? I think so ... But why then people sending him those broken cartridges from different manufacturers, it is some sort of sect? Stick to one cartridge forever because of what?  And when it's Lyra why not just listen to J.Carr's opinion about re-tipping process and the result ? No, they don't want to listen to J.Carr, they want SoundSmith, then why not just buy SoundSmith cartridge if Peter Ledermann always promote MI instead of LOMC ? 

And more important: Why people are buying very expensive cartridges if they can't afford manufacturer's service or exchange program? Why ?