Any experience with Sound Smith repairing stylus on non-Sound Smith cartridges?
I was reaching across my Rega P8 turntable with Linn Krystal cartridge (four months old with 250 hours), and the back of my finger hit the stylus, and severely bent / broke the stylus and cantilever, as the stylus is now pointing straight down,and the tip is facing backwards (instead of down). I was probably going to send the Linn cartridge to Sound Smith for repair. Has anyone had experience with their various stylus repair options for Linn (or other non-Sound Smith) cartridges?
Thanks.
The Linn Krystal has a aluminum tube cantilever, with a vital fine line stylus (whatever that means). It seems like aluminum would be the reasonable replacement option from Sound Smith:
Sound Smith recommended the Boron, because of "the stylus profile", and it's also the most expensive option
What do you think would match best with the Linn vital fine line stylus? | ||||
@drbond, Boron generally stiffer and most high end cartridges are using it now with a few using diamond. One uses a cactus spine! I would go with Soundsmith's ruby cantilever and OCCL stylus. They use this set up in the Sussurro and The Voice so, I know they have it available. The question is will they put it in someone else's cartridge? I think the OCCL stylus is going to be the closest to the Krystal "vital fine line" stylus. My problem with the aluminum cantilever is the way the stylus has to be mounted leaves a lot of mass at the end of the cantilever in the worst place. As far as aluminum cantilevers go I think AT makes the best one, a tapered tube. I think they use it in the VM760SLC. The Ruby cantilever in the Soundsmith cartridges is very fine. It is red which is cool but it looks like it would snap at the slightest tap. It is actually very tough and holds up well. | ||||
Some months ago, JCarr, the creator of Lyra cartridges, for those who don't know, wrote a nice piece here wherein he suggested that when re-tipping a cartridge it is best to replace like with like, when it comes to the choice of cantilever material. The rationale for that advice is that the suspension was designed for the mass and rigidity of the original cantilever. You may want to search for his post here to read his actual words on the subject. By that reasoning, replace alu with alu. Stylus shape can be altered, I think he would say. As to the question of whether SS will install a ruby cantilever with OCL stylus, the answer is yes. They did that for my Grace Ruby. (SS also offer a complete new stylus assembly for the Ruby, including its ruby cantilever and OCL stylus, but I had them replace only the cantilever and stylus on mine.) | ||||
