Replicant 100 stylus

I have next to my Russian- also an American brother with whom I

have daily correspondence (Don Griffith). His story you can probably

deny or confirm. The story is that people posted their in Japan bought

Koetsus direct to Garrott brothers for their ''retips''. Aka ''not rebuild''

or ''refreshment''. 

I know for sure what the Garrott Bros did to Koetsu's. I sent them somewhere between 30-40 Koetsu's personally in the mid 80's.

The Garrott's tweaked Koetsu's were so good that we occasionally had customers request a "Garrott retip" for their brand new Koetsu. 

Part of the reason was the micro scanner styli they installed.

However, this was only part of the story. With each retip the Garrotts went through each cartridge from stylus tip to pin outs. Any issues were tidied up. Production flaws fixed. Sometimes they reworked what they considered to be design flaws.

This is true of all cartridges the Garrots retipped. Every retip, repaired cartridge was fully tested in a live system before leaving their premises.

As far as Koetsu's go I can tell you Garrotts considered them the worst built cartridges in the world. For example  with the stone bodied Koetsu's built by Sugano, the generator/cantilever/stylus assembly were held in by paper shims. We actually had a couple of Onyx Gold where the guts literally fell out of the cartridge body. The Garrott's would remove the paper shims and rework the mechanical integrity of the cartridge.

There were other internal mods they did, but they kept most of the details to themselves.

It was this attention to detail that their reputation for delivering cartridges better than new flourished - they were much more than your average modern retipper.

It is no coincidence that the three best cartridge rebuilders in my view - Garrotts, Van Den Hul and Andreoli - all produced their own range of superb cartridges.

Anyway you made ''retips'' as well ''rebuild'' + ''refreshment'' of

carts superfluous by your discovery and praise of Denon 103 D

for $ 280. 

I never said this cartridge outperformed my Dynavector or any other cartridge.

All I said was that with an exceptional front end - turntable and arm - it can sound very good - the point being you don't have to spend a kings ransom on an esoteric cartridge to get a great sound.

Unfortunately I see too many folk on this forum buying megabuck cartridges for turntables and arms that are not able to unleash the cartridges' full potential.

It obviously come down to linguistic; if the mentioned ''super the super''

individuals are called ''retipers'', ''cartridge repair service'' or ''rebuilders''.

Because this thread is about styli which are specific parts among the

other parts by each cart which other parts are not mentioned in this

discussion It is obvious why dover persist on the expression ''rebuild''.

I would think that stylus exchange or cantilever/stylus combo exchange

is called ''retips'' . That is the part  which is glued  in front side of the

so called ''joint pipe'' ( aka ''aluminum tube'')  and at which back side

the coils and tension wire are fastened . Those are the so called ''moving

parts''  which are connected to the generator by tension wire. There is

also damper (aka ''rubber ring'') against which the coil is positioned.

All those parts have their own name and can be identify as such.

However those are not named or referred to by vague expression

''rebuild''. It is the choice of expressions which make statements

more or less clear. Styli and cantilevers are, I would think , pretty

clear. But it seem more easy to point out at less relevant issues

like what brothers Garrott deed or not and qualify  info about THEM

as  ''BS''. In latin: testimonium paupertatis 

. 

Well in order to make ''cost-benefit'' analysis we need to know the

prices. I mentioned ''stylus only'' retip as well ''cantilever + stylus''

price. Alas we deed not discover what ''rebuild'' price is . For dover

this is  ''not our business'' to know. That is to say what his (3x) 

''rebuild'' of his precious Dynavector cost. BTW if his Dynavector

needs each time ''rebuild'' instead changing wear off stylus only

I would not recommend such cartridge (grin). 

In addition to ''my cost '' there is also known the price for the priceless

Denon 103 D; $ 280 . Why should  anyone with my ''budget'' of less

than $3000 spend more on an cartridge? 

In relation to the previous posts produced by myself in this thread.

It is predicted by the owner / user of the Cartridge with the Replicant 100 that the Cart’ will have received approx’ 100 Hrs of usage during the Month of February.

From the Cartridges used in the last comparison there are Two still available to be used offered for use for a Comparative Assessment during another arranged demonstration for the Spring Time.

The Three Cart’s used if all goes to plan be from Models produced by the the same Brand.

The Longest owned Cart’ that to be used is the Standard Model with an FG Stylus remains with only approx’ 200 Hrs usage on it. The second longest owned Cart’ is the same as the above model, but has been rebuilt and has a different Styli and cantilever material, this Cart’ now has more than 300 Hrs usage.

The Cart of real interest to be offered for the demonstration and compared to is the shortest owned Cart of the Three, I have been listening to its performance when at approx’ 20-30 Hours usage, it is yet to have over 100 Hrs usage, I look forward to revisiting it with a extended usage behind it. The Cart’ has the Replicant 100 Styli, the ’specially selected Super Fine Polished version’ according to the sales spiel.

I’m not sure what to expect from this upcoming experience as there are three different cantilever materials and Three Different Brands Styli, even though each Styli will be seen to be from a Brands Top of the Range in the product listing.

Most importantly the meetings and demonstrations are social get together’s, with short periods of time taken out for assessing the performance from a demonstration.

All evaluations are subjective and produced by individuals whose qualification is a willingness to travel to encounter new experiences, as well as a long time maintained use of the Vinyl Medium, and the interest in learning the most valuable method to be used for extracting the information embedded within the LP pressing.

That is the extent of my interest as well, even though I do believe I have learned some very useful lessons from the demonstrations offered.