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A Soundsmith Re-tip Believer


To paraphrase Michael Elliott, the eventual guru of Counterpoint, "price point defines the limits of the quality of the parts used in a piece of Hi-Fi. If a comparable profit margin could be attained using superior components I would have used them".

 

Hence the debate of re-tipping a cartridge, or buying a new one through a manufactures exchange program. Based on Counterpoint's paradigm, better products use better parts, that's why they're better products. This was the pivotal reason I had Peter Ledermann rebuild my Dynavector HOMC 20X2 cartridge, instead of going the exchange route.

 

A 20X2 is not as esoteric of a cartridge as the coterie use, but it's not bad. The reason I chose the 20X2 over the far more expensive LO Dynavector TE Kaitora is because of my Pre-amp (Gain 46db). The 20X2's factory cantilever is an aluminium tube and the stylus was a Micro-Ridge affair.

 

Using Counterpoint's philosophy I had Mr Ledermann replace the aluminium tube cantilever with a ruby and the factory stylus with an Optimized Contour Nude Contact Line Diamond. This combination creates an ultra low mass system according to Mr. Ledermann.

 

These bonuses are augmented by the fact that a gem stone is more inert than an aluminium tube. Plus an Optimized Contour Nude Contact Line Diamond has better tracking characteristics and superior sonic retrieval to a Micro-Ridge, and it has a lower mass. If these mods don't elevate the source to a better over all cartridge than why are they found on cartridges a few heads further up the totem pole.

 

The sound? Dead quiet. Beautifully transparent, gorgeous sound stage, and the imaging! Rich highs that are not intrusive, mid-range to die for, well controlled bass which I wish had more authority (could be the Pre-amp tubes), and a couple surprises. Very rewarding to good recordings, but unlike the Grado, not brutal to not so good recordings, and no Grado hum.

 

I'm in the re-tip camp. If any of you are pondering over the idea of exchanging your cartridge or having Soundsmith rebuild your current cartridge, my experience has been totally positive going the Peter Ledermann way. I'm just saying.
thehorn
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
According to philosophy of  science ''truth and falsity'' have
nothing to do with believe. An statement is true or false independent
from our belief. We can't make an true statement false by believing.
Even cart producers would need an extra  worker for retips.
They also get the same cantilever/stylus combo's ready-made
by supplier. Why should one retiper in an factory be better than
the usual kind? BTW there are ''usual kinds'' with +40 years experience . There is no such ''animal'' by cart producers. 

antinn
407 posts
 
@millercarbon,

Not to go off track from this post, but this relatively recent article adds to the discussion of the cantilever/mass and what Peter (Retipper) has discussed about a benefit of his moving iron (MI) cartridges - "Vibration analysis of stylus instrument for random surface measurement", available http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/5705/. While Peter uses the term 'Jitter', the article uses the term 'Tip Flight', but the result is the same. While the article is not specific to a vinyl record, the correlation is unmistakable. This article does present that the optimum damping ratio is 0.5 to 0.7, and this would then support Peter's claim to the benefit of the lower mass of the MI design; less mass means less work required to damp the mechanism. 

Otherwise I am fan of Soundsmith MI cartridges beyond the performance, the benefit of being able to rebuild the cartridge - not just retip, but replacing the critical suspension system all at nominal cost is a significant benefit.
bukanona
174 posts
 
I also do believe that these ruby and sapphire cantilevers can be broken much more easier than boron.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Not to go off track from this post, but this relatively recent article adds to the discussion of the cantilever/mass and what Peter (Retipper) has discussed about a benefit of his moving iron (MI) cartridges - "Vibration analysis of stylus instrument for random surface measurement", available http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/5705/. While Peter uses the term ’Jitter’, the article uses the term ’Tip Flight’, but the result is the same. While the article is not specific to a vinyl record, the correlation is unmistakable. This article does present that the optimum damping ratio is 0.5 to 0.7, and this would then support Peter’s claim to the benefit of the lower mass of the MI design; less mass means less work required to damp the mechanism.

Otherwise I am fan of Soundsmith MI cartridges beyond the performance, the benefit of being able to rebuild the cartridge - not just retip, but replacing the critical suspension system all at nominal cost is a significant benefit.


Right. And nothing off-track about it. OP said, "The sound? Dead quiet." And this is the reason why the sound is dead quiet. Less mass, more damped, equals less stylus bouncing around means less noise equals dead quiet.

This also answers the question:
Why should one retiper in an factory be better than the usual kind?

Because clearly we are not talking merely about a re-tip. We are not even talking about "the usual kind" (whatever that is) of re-tipper. We are talking about Peter Ledermann, a man who has spent 40+ years not merely re-tipping and refurbishing and designing and building cartridges, but studying every aspect of their performance to the point he has developed knowledge and understanding of things like jitter that is able to make even a relatively affordable cartridge "dead quiet".

thehorn made a smart move going with Peter. One of the Greats. Enjoy!
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Even cart producers would need an extra worker for retips.
They also get the same cantilever/stylus combo's ready-made
by supplier. Why should one retiper in an factory be better than
the usual kind? BTW there are ''usual kinds'' with +40 years experience . There is no such ''animal'' by cart producers.

@nandric 

Cartidge producers at Dynavector never refurbish their cartridges or re-tip them, i think in this world the policy is to give a customer the best (aka brand new cartridge with warranty) instead, but with very special discount to support this service policy of exchange. 

No doubt that Peter is one of the best in business, but the OP has a brand NEW cartridge, not something old or special. His cartridge is still available in the shops and i believe supported by Dynavector for exchange. Better (different) cartridges are also available even at lower cost (including those MI from SoundSmith). 

Dead quiet or not - this is not a character of the sound. The best way is to compare refurbished to the original in the same system and then it will be fair comparison. Vinyl can't be dead quiet anyway, it is not digital. Even mastertape has some tape hiss.

SoundSmith can't repair many cartridges, because they are unique, some of them are Dynavector with short Ruby or Diamond cantilevers, no one can get those cantilevers anymore. This is one example why re-tipper is not the best solution, not in every situation and it's primarily depends on the cartridge design. Sometimes they simply can't help.


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