Refurbished / Re-tipped Cartridges - Are they worth Buying?

The topic of the gob of glue surrounding Namiki/Orbray cantilevers and others comes up pretty often. Clients send me “What’s that?????!!!!!” photos with disparaging remarks about retipping rather often, having no idea that the brand new cartridges are the exact same.

My take on this is that major manufacturers use this method along with half height low profile diamonds typically 0.3mm tall while a standard pass-through stylus diamond length is 0.6mm. Reasonably assume that the epoxy, which is perfectly rigid and forms an excellent bond together with a low profile diamond is lighter than a full length diamond installed/mortised into a slot or hole in a boron or gem cantilever. If the epoxy does not interfere with the contact edges of the stone, the lighter assembly is the better one.

A stronger joint is of course better for sound, but I don’t know if the glue joint is stronger or weaker than a mechanical joint. Some evidence is that it’s weaker because the glued diamonds fall out when exposed to a knock whereas the mechanical ones break the cantilever—at least with boron. With sapphire or ruby, it could go either way.

In any case, from my perspective, I think it’s an advantage if a diamond pops off leaving a cantilever intact because then all I have to do is replace the diamond like with like and go about my life. A broken cantilever is a chore to repair and exposes the naked cartridge to the risk of damage while being repaired. I’ve never damaged one yet, but replacing a diamond alone is a lot easier on the nerves.

Needlestein, aka Groovetickler

If your cartridge costs $500 (like the legendary and wonderful Denon 103R) then you can afford to replace it once the stylus is worn. But if you have a really expensive cartridge ($5K) then it pays to have it re-tipped. I had Groovetickler retip my expensive cartridge, and I also had my inexpensive AT33MONO cartridge upgraded with a boron/micro ridge stylus which put this on par with mono cartridges costing 3x as much. 

What is overlooked in many discussions had about retip/refurbishment/rebuild of a Cart', is that OEM Services and Third Party Services are seen to choose the wording in their descriptions where ' Equivalent ' is the key word. A term 'Identical' or 'Like for Like' is not used.

' Equivalent ' in relation to parts selected to be used, can have an extremely broad interpretation of what these parts are? Across the different services being used, it is likely to be very inconsistent in what is to offered.

I recollect, I believe from a  Thread started by 'nandric', that Lyra made it known they have a Cart' Model that is always available to be rebuilt to the identical OEM Model that was produced?

I have experiences of original with varying usage hours vs modified vs rebuilt of same Cart' models. I enjoyed the experiences undertaken and especially the findings/evaluations.

I don't understand why some people still spend their effort to the expensive phono cartridge. The LP becomes sound-poorer as played (physical contact so wearing out). No matter with excellant phono system, the sound becomes worse as you play the LPs. CD sound is way better than that of LPs, which (CDs) are being replaced by streaming musics.

I do have many, many LPs. I seldom play them. Why? Most important LPs were already converted to digitals (stored into my computer, so no need to worry about playing frequency).

If truely brand new LPs are produced, it is worth to keep the whole phono system. The new LPs shoud be all analog from the recording to final LP-pressing. Otherwise, the new LPs are digital-to-analog version!

@r27y8u92 Contributions regularly made on subjects such as this, are made by individual heavily invested over time in their owned Source and Vinyl LP Collection as a means to be entertained.

Proposing that such an investment is to be no longer of importance as a means of entertainment and Superseded by a different Superseded Source, or Superseded by the most relevant Source Type available today. Which the Jury seems to be out for a long time on whether the relevant Source today is capable to prove itself as a viable alternative. Does seem to be a very very narrow objective on the matter, when being entertained is the end objective.

It is almost as one is suggesting a Monochrome Image is not able to be as emotionally stimulating as a Colour Image. Have a look at the Photography from ’Sebastião Salgado’ and get back on how this experience was perceived.

Does an individual having $20K+ invested in a CD Source and CD Collection and is inquiring abouts a replacement Laser for the CD Source. Is it a acceptable approach to suggest the Source and Recorded Music Collection are abandoned to be Superseded by a Streaming Source?

Cartridges on their nature are very environmentally friendly, and this attractive point is extended even further, when an individual adopts the methods under discussion in a subject like this, the Cart’ in use can have a lifetimes usage. the referred to Delta677, has been keeping Cart’s ongoing in use, where some models being given the Lazarus Treatment have a usage life behind them of 40-50 Years.

Individuals dedicated to their Vinyl Source and their Vinyl LP collection are as a result of believing the reports being offered. Experiencing very high quality levels of recorded music replays and as a result of dedicated long term ownership are not creating the negative Environmental Impact that is associated with Typical Consumerism Habits, where the Wheel is dumped, to be Superseded by the latest reinvention of the wheel.

I get it, that there are individuals who like to have their recorded music consolidated into a file of ’X’ amount of Bytes, some even having the embedded metadata to give a visual description, like a Virtual Album Cover. Whatever stimulates the value of the entertainment being sought. Intending on using these files that are opened up to create a period of amusement for the individual, is one of a variety of methods that has become popular, but not the superior method.

I certainly am not going to suggest those who adopt the practice of listening to recoded music stored as a file as a means to be entertained are incorrect in their practices. I do sense in a few years time that some of these individuals 'as a compulsiveness in their behaviour to have a new means in place to be entertained, will be the first in the queue to buy into the Tech that is developed that Supersedes File Stored Recorded Music and Streaming.