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Diamond Stylus Enters the 4th Dimension

So, I went to play a Chet Baker Album last night. Lowered the arm, flipped og the mute switch and.......GARBAGE!

The cantilever looked fine. On examination with my USB microscope I confirmed a sullen fact. The diamond had gone AWOL. There is just a little glue left on the end of the cantilever which is completely undamaged. It is a Clearaudio Charisma cartridge.

Anyone ever have this happen? I played records the day before no problem. I did not take anything to the stylus brush or otherwise. I do use an Audio Technica tonearm lift but it's trigger mechanism is so light. I can't believe that did it and it certainly should not do it. IMHO the cantilever should break before the diamond gets knocked off. 

The cartridge is four months old and I got it from Elusive Disc. It has a two year warranty. Here is where the rubber hits the road. 
128x128mijostyn
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,874 posts
 
@mijostyn  Your photo of the cantilever tells the whole story. It seems clear that there was an incorrect gluing of the stylus to the cantilever. A clear manufacturing defect, IMHO. This is something that the manufacturer should make right for you.
BTW, I like your modded Acoustat 2+2's, I used to own Acoustat 3's with the modded C transformers back in the day. 
katylied
54 posts
 
@daveyf , I'm using the Onzow for more than 10 years on my cartridges (Ortofon Kontrapunkt Blue first and Cadenza Bronze recently) with no issues. I guess that most of the problems arise from user mistake. I've also used for many years the Last Formula 4 without any damage to the cartridge (Shinon Saphic, Kiseki Purpleheart, Carnegie One, etc..).
I've seen diamonds gone from the stylus on several cartridges, last week a customer brought in a Grado Reference Platinum, s**t can happen!
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,874 posts
 
@katylied I know a number of dealers who are now refusing to stock or sell the Onzow cleaner. I’m pretty sure  the horror stories with the Onzow result from what you say...user error. I use one on my Lyra, along with the Last Stylast, and both do work quite well. I think one has to be careful though with the Onzow.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
That could definitely rip your stylus off. (the Onzow)
Daveyf, the ultimate was 3+3's. I could not afford them back when they were available and they did not make very many of them, but you could stack 3's. When you make the speaker 8 feet tall it metamorphs from a lamb into a tiger. The basic characteristics remain just a lot punchier, louder with a larger sound stage. The problem with 2+2's is that they are very selfish. They do not have quite enough horizontal dispersion. If I had the 3+3's I probably would not be lusting after Sound Labs 845's....as much.
Hopefully will hear from Elusive Disc today.
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,874 posts
 
@mijostyn  I think you are referring to the Acoustat 6's when you say 3+3...is that right? I had a friend who used to own the Acoustat 8's. They were huge! Required an extremely large room, which he had, and were not that easy to drive. I thought they were a good speaker, but I also thought that stacked Quad's were far superior, and for a lot less $$. 
I always lusted after Quads when I owned my Acoustat's...
Not so much today..:0)
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