Cartridge repair by Moscow based Roman??

@uberwalts

I ran Denon 103R’s, both stock and modified (mainly with line contact styli) for about 7 years and about 6000 hours.

If you can explain then how many times it was re-tipped?
If the total is 6000 hrs then it must be re-tipped nearly 6 times, because Line Contact life span is about 1000 hrs max (read SoundSmith article above).

Was it re-cantilevered each time, because the one and only advantage of the aluminum cantilever is that a diamond can be pressure fitted through this cantilever with minimum glue.

If the tip was glued on existing cantilever then it’s inferior.

If the cantilever was replaced with a better one then the cost of such refurbishing job is equal to the better MC cartridge.

It’s been said many times on this forum, but people still ignoring it and always claimed the re-tip is fine and always better than the original etc and so on and on ...

But i agree with @hdm that it’s very bad idea to ship a cartridge for re-tip to Russia when there are at least SoundSmith in USA and Expert Stylus in UK ... both with very strong reputation and ages of experience.

The best way to get the ART-9 back to work is to ship it directly to Audio-Technica in USA or JAPAN and replace it with a brand new sample. Or continue suffering from purchase from grey market dealers with no support from the AT.

P.S. What he does with your Koetsu is probably just soldering together a broken wire for $400.

Let’s face it: It was not even re-tip on existing cantilever (very difficult job even for SoundSmith) or replacement of the whole cantilever (stadard process for re-tippers).

If someone will do that the total cost will be 50% of the AT retail, because this cartridge can be found for $900 NEW or even cheaper. A low hrs (perfectly working) AT ART-9 can be purchased much cheaper than NEW. In my opinion re-tip or re-cantilevering make no sense at all for this model, it will cost too much and the sound will be different. This is a relatively cheap LOMC and if it was a grey market sample then it’s better to find a MINT- condition used sample with discount if having ART-9 is so important.

@chakster 

uberwaltz was indeed correct; in no way was I suggesting that anyone use line contact stylus for 6000 hours. I thought my post was pretty clear but perhaps not. 

In taking a look at my history with Denon 103R's it was probably about 5000 hours over all in a 5-6 year period. I ran the stock conical initially for about 800-900 hours and then ran 3 Soundsmith retips on two different rebodied 103R's, two of which were Peter's standard line contact on ruby cantilever and one which was Peter's OCL (similar to Ortofon Replicant) on ruby cantilever. I ran all 3 of those for about 1200-1400 hours each and they all sounded very good still when I retired them. My records were, prior to this, and still are, in very good condition. 

Very clean vinyl (seems to me from a recent discussion you are not a big fan of cleaning records, but maybe I am mistaken) and careful cueing are critical to stylus longevity. 

I know you are a huge fan and quite fond of quoting Jonathan Carr (at least when it supports your argument) so you might find this an interesting read: 

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=vinyl&n=265884&highlight=ogura+namiki+jcarr&r=

@cool_jeeves 

try to contact cartridgelab in Italy, they are very good and known all over the world, heads impossible repair by other repairers have been repaired.
An mail costs nothing.

@hdm  thanks for the link, the statement was made in 2003, long time ago, but anyway ... 

Anyone can comment what is a PA profile ? Parabolic ? 

I remember PH stylus on my Galnz 61, but not a PA. And yes i do not clean records everyday, because i think they are already clean. I do clean dirty records if i can see that they are dirty. 

So the 2500 hrs is the estimate for Ogura PA stylus according to J.Carr from 2003, not for every advanced stylus. And there are a lof of "if" in his comments. Regarding the modern MR profile the estimate is 2000 hrs as stated by Nakatsuka-San (ZYX). 

Over the years, I've used mostly the Ogura PA, which in my opinion is one of the two best "standard" stylus designs in the world (the other being the Namiki MicroRidge, and perhaps the Gyger "S" also qualifies - perhaps). The PA is the same stylus shape that is used on the Koetsus, among other well-known cartridge builders. I would suggest that you should be able to get at least 2500 hours of playing time from an Ogura PA if you keep your LPs cleaned with a record cleaning machine, and are reasonably careful. If you are meticulous about cleanliness and how carefully you cue the stylus up and down (especially down), 3000 hours should be possible. More than this is rare.

The Namiki MicroRidge (MR, also called ML for MicroLine by other companies who use Namiki's design) has a more delicate side structure that contacts the groove walls (the "ridge"), which makes it theoretically a little more capable of retaining a good shape over time than the PA if the MR is well cared-for, but also makes it a little more fragile and prone to damage if treated with less TLC (it is somewhat easier to get tiny "nicks" in the ridge which can inscribe horizontal striations along the walls of the groove). I have used the MR in prototype designs, but I don't think I have used it in any production cartridge model. So I don't have that much long-term detailed data. I think that if the user is real careful, the MR may last a skosh longer than the PA, but if the user is less careful, the PA may stand up a little better.

But I am using the MR in our new entry-level cartridge model, the Dorian (I expect that we will either play it or have it on display at the Las Vegas CES), and so I will have a chance to get a lot more direct experience with the MR real soon. I'll be better able to answer your question in a few years.

Incidentally, I am gradually moving away from the PA. The PA is great as a "standard catalog" shape, but in the quest for more performance, we decided that we wanted something closer to our ideas of what the ideal stylus should be like, and so we designed our own stylus shape. And I have to say, I do like this new shape (it doesn't have a name yet) rather better than the PA. For one thing, it is somewhat quieter than the PA (especially on worn and damaged LPs), and the wear patterns so far suggest that it may last somewhat longer, too. But this stylus shape is still relatively new (it's on the Titan, Argo, Olympos, and Helikon Mono, but _not_ the standard Helikon, and not on any of our older cartridges like the Clavis, Clavis DC, Parnassus, Lydian et al). So again, ask me the same question again in a few years!

-jonathan carr

Great learning from the many comments so far. Thank you all. So just to be clear: I tried to slip the stylus guard onto the cartridge but in doing so ended up snapping the cantilever backwards and it broke off and got lost. Next, I will check out Expert Stylus, Andy Kim (anyone has his contacts), CartridgeLab and anyone else you recommend with a detailed chat before acting. I had started by checking with AT Japan. When I cleared the fog of confusion their English created I gathered that the replacement with a new piece could be done at $1000 which is way higher than the $876 I paid for it. Next, I am definitely interested if there were a lightly used cartridge from a known seller but will come back to this option after checking out the above re - tippers.