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Andy Kim - Needle Clinic

I wanted to put this post out there about Andy Kim of Needle Clinic, located in Bellevue, Washington. As many may know, Andy is a cartridge re-tipper. I tried to find some older posts to add my comments but couldn't find them. So I'll start another OP. I just got my Lyra Kleos back from Andy today. Here's my comments.

My Kleos sounded a little off lately, so I thought it should be checked out. I sent it to Andy Kim. It turns out all that was needed was the stylus required a cleaning and polishing. Andy reported back that the stylus only has about 10 percent wear; IOW plenty of life left.

So I remounted the Kleos today and have been playing all types of music: rock and roll, classical, and so forth. The Kleos sounds wonderful; just great. Kudos to Andy Kim.

Fyi -- some may ask why I didn't send it to Peter Ledermann at Sound-Smith. I seem to recall reading somewhere that he's been unusually busy lately -- and with good reason -- and turn around might be a bit delayed. Also, I'm not sure Peter uses replacement cantilever/stylus assemblies that match (or at least come close to) the original. Andy does.
Anyway, that is a bridge I don't have to cross today.

Bottom line: Andy turned my cartridge within a week of receipt and I am pleased.
bifwynne
big_greg
6,674 posts
 
I was only pointing out the total cost to someone starting out from scratch.
I was commenting on the quality, timeliness, and affordability of Andy's service, not recommending that someone send a new perfectly good cartridge to have it re-tipped.  

If someone has a cartridge that isn't working properly, Andy's (and other retippers) services offer great value in comparison to purchasing a new cart.


lewm
13,328 posts
 
But you also got a big upgrade on the original cantilever and stylus offered on a new DL103R, which was a great idea.  I am not meaning to disagree or cause discord. I have dealt with Andy in the past, and the experience was a good one with a short waiting time.
big_greg
6,674 posts
 
@lewm If you're saying that the total cost of the DL-103 and the re-tip is a better value than many other new cartridges, we are in total agreement.

I won't post what he said here, but Andy has a strong opinion about the Zu "upgrade".  


nd4speed
16 posts
 

I just wanted to chime in really quick about a retip of a Shelter 901 I just got back from Andy. I inspected it under a high powered USB microscope and work is really superb, perfect alignment and very clean replacement with a micro ridge nude stylus, sapphire/boron cantilever that appears to be much lower in mass than the original. As expected, detail retrieval has increased while retaining the core signature sound of the cartridge. I'm extremely happy with the work and recommend him highly.

He also turned this around in astonishing time (about a day); he apparently works on every cartridge himself and doesn't farm anything out. His queue at the moment appears to be low so if you have any work that needs done now is a great time to get it done.

tzh21y
1,654 posts
 

He is excellent.

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