Buying a new TT today

if you have a 30 year old Technics, you might indeed have the Toys rUs version ( that was for Sogogear) !

@aj523

Definitely RUS version because I’m in Russia :)
My SL1210mkII was $350 in 1995 in local Technics/Panasonic shop, and i was 19 (good times).

It’s interesting that you mention cantilever length-that is something VDH talks about extensively in those links I sent out from their Web site. Theirs is extremely short to minimize travel in the rubber base of the cantilever that wears. It makes life between service intervals to 2500-3500 hours instead of normal 1500-2000. They also have a special stylus shaped so it actually goes deeper (like a sharp pencil tip versus a rounder elliptical one) into the groove and produces less residue (called VDH stylus) which also extends the length of service intervals.

@sokogear

The shortest cantilever i ever tried was IKEDA9c III cantilever-less design :) No cantilever at all, maybe you will like it.

Another one is Dynavector KARAT with very short (1.7 mm) Diamond cantilever, here is the interview with its inventor Dr. Tominari (Dynavector Systems). My old Dynavector thread is here.

VdH stylus, Fritz Gyger stylus, and Ortofon Replicant stylus... are nearly the same, the difference is who’s got the patent and unique name for it. Garrott problers displayed them well here.

Stanton/Pickering invented Stereohedron right after Quadrahedron.

But Shibata-San at JVC/Victor who invented and patended Shibata stylus was first.

New Miyajima Kansui has Shibata stylus because Miyajima-San love it.

BTW, I didn’t think Panasonic (Technics) ever went out of business, just stopped making tables for a while. Interesting....

@sokogear
In this thread definitely meant Technics turntables they stopped making for many years, but at that time Panasonic printers and Panasonic electric shavers were available and i bought them (and happy about quality, no upgrades since that time).

Soko, if your phono stage has more than 60 dB gain, consider an AT ART7. Its recently been discontinued but you may be able to pick one up brand new by perusing the internet. I am more or less in the same camp with Chak when it comes to cartridges, although not as dogmatic, but I think the ART7 among modern cartridges is a real exception in terms of both performance and value for money. It’s really terrific. And when it’s been off the market for a long enough period of time, I think even Chakster will recognize its excellence.

Max gain the Insight offers is 60 dB. Looks like the ART7 would be more than the VDH maintenance cost any way. Probably will just keep it. Just have to figure out when to do the service....Will be 9 years in November-about 5 hours per week, but last 4 months has probably been 15-20. So total of about 25-2600 on it. 
Does anyone have a way to figure out when to do the service? The range is so big (2500-3500 hours) It’s hard to know for sure. I’m within the range now. I know that my records are in fantastic condition -almost no warped albums which cause faster cartridge wear.

You have to ship it to Van den Hul direct, but make sure to check if he can personally work on your cartridge. If he can personally work on it then this is the best service. You can always ask via VdH distributors. 

I don't think you can ship your cartridge directly to Van Den Hul. I think you have to go through their distributor. It's now VPI for the US. I had my MC two special done a year or two ago. It was done by A.J. Van Den Hul himself. It was completely rebuilt for $500. Totally worth it.