Re-tip Ortofon Cadenza Bronze

Sound Smith only re-tips boron cantilevers, so it would have to be a rebuild no matter what. Still, at $650, it would’ve been $300 cheaper than Ortofon.

I could get the boron cantilever from Sound Smith for $450. That’s $500 I’d save over Ortofon, which would be a huge help. I might even prefer a faster, more compliant, stylus. The Cadenza Black has a boron cantilever. 

Are there any reasons to think this would be a bad idea? $950 is just a lot of money for me right now. I was out of work with an injury for some months.

Unless you’ve bent the exiting cantilever it’s not now you need to worry about the cost, take good care of your cartridge and  it will have gone up when the time comes anyway.

I have the other current Ortofon with a Replicant 100 stylus on an aluminium cantilever and had to get that rebuilt because I’d messed up setting the bias and after a year of daily use the cantilever wasn’t in line any more, not bent but misaligned.enough to produce intrusive sibilance where it hadn’t existed before. Take care with your bias setting.

OP how new is your Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cart? Unless you listen 20+ hrs a day (lucky you,) then you have many, many years of listening to your cartridge. Enjoy

Ortofon rebuilt my Bronze several years ago and it was better than new when it came back.  You have wonderful cartridge.  Unless you're looking for a different sound,  protect your investment when the time comes.

Thanks for your responses! The diamond is still in good shape, so this isn’t a problem now. I’m just thinking ahead. I keep an eye on it with a 60X jeweler’s loupe.