What happens when the stylus tip wears out on a $12,000 cartridge?
There is no shortage of stereo phono cartridges with 5-figure price tags. What do you do when the stylus tip wears out? Do any/some/all manufacturers of these cartridges provide or offer a re-tipping service? Or do you just lay out another 12 or 15 grand for a new cartridge? Sorry for my ignorance - the Denon DL-103R/Lithium Audio Musikraft shell I currently use is the most expensive cartridge set-up I’ve ever owned. I’ve had a couple re-tipped by Soundsmith in the past for $200 - 300. What do you guys at the other end of the price spectrum do?
Use Stylast on every play and the issue will never come up. My dealer looked at my 5 year old Benz under the microscope and said it looked brand new. This thing got daily use. * Also sounds better. This won't help with enthusiastic kids or cleaning ladies in which case Benz will rebuild your cartridge.
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The cantilever can be removed from ferrule. The ferrule and armature are held in place by the tension wire. You can also replace the entire assembly by loosening the screw holding the tension wire and pulling the whole thing out after removing the front pole piece. I think this is what the manufacturers do. I am not sure what adhesive is used on the proximal end of the cantilever but it does not have to be near as strong as the one that holds the stylus on. I do know what happens when they forget to apply the adhesive. I had a cartridge the stylus wound up pointing at 8 o'clock instead of 6 o'clock. The stress of tripping the end of record lift was enough to turn the cantilever in the ferrule. It was covered quickly under warranty. |
Not one idea that will be proposed by the average thinker for a MC Cart' to have a simplistic exchangeable Cantilever/Styli assembly will be one would be Cart' owner friendly as is the MM methodology for C'lever/Styli exchanges. The designs I see that can be put on the table by 'Mr Average Thinker', are ones that would have the need of a professional technician to carry the procedure, as being invasive of the very very fragile assembly is unavoidable in a typical MC design needing a new part? A design that has low man hour needs to complete the exchange and the notion that fragile parts are much more protected from associated risks for being damaged, might? make the idea of having a Cart' with easier to exchange C'lever / Styli as an attractive option for learning and assessment about materials effects on changes to produced sound produced with differing materials used for the assembly at this interface. Being myself an 'Mr Average Thinker', I can't see much more value to attempting to carry out such a design. In the hey day of MM, it was not uncommon and at the present still here but less common, to see off the shelf parts as a C'lever / Styli assembly, that is using different materials from those selected by the OEM for certain MM Cart's. |
@pindac I think you are suggesting MC cartridges might be made with interchangeable stylus/cantilever assemblies? And you would make it simple and perhaps not require a technician? How would you suggest getting around the stumbling block of the connections between the coils on the proximal end of the cantilever and the output pins? |
