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Andy Kim - Needle Clinic

I wanted to put this post out there about Andy Kim of Needle Clinic, located in Bellevue, Washington. As many may know, Andy is a cartridge re-tipper. I tried to find some older posts to add my comments but couldn't find them. So I'll start another OP. I just got my Lyra Kleos back from Andy today. Here's my comments.

My Kleos sounded a little off lately, so I thought it should be checked out. I sent it to Andy Kim. It turns out all that was needed was the stylus required a cleaning and polishing. Andy reported back that the stylus only has about 10 percent wear; IOW plenty of life left.

So I remounted the Kleos today and have been playing all types of music: rock and roll, classical, and so forth. The Kleos sounds wonderful; just great. Kudos to Andy Kim.

Fyi -- some may ask why I didn't send it to Peter Ledermann at Sound-Smith. I seem to recall reading somewhere that he's been unusually busy lately -- and with good reason -- and turn around might be a bit delayed. Also, I'm not sure Peter uses replacement cantilever/stylus assemblies that match (or at least come close to) the original. Andy does.
Anyway, that is a bridge I don't have to cross today.

Bottom line: Andy turned my cartridge within a week of receipt and I am pleased.
bifwynne
rahulnair
1 posts
 

i acquired a Hana ML last year during a sale and was very happy with it. unfortunately during a recent visit by a friend, we had an accident and the cantilever became bent/askew.

i contacted Andy at Needle Clinic and he was very quick to respond. he was about to embark on travel, but provided me exact dates and was even willing to accommodate me before he left for his trip if i expedited shipping to him.

not being in a hurry as i had a back up cart (a NOS Denon 103 LCII), i was okay waiting for him to return. i shopped out a couple of days before he returned, so he received it when he came back. within a day or so of his receiving it, he wrote to me that the cat was all set and ready to ship. he had replaced the bent cantilever with a micro ridge nude stylus boron cantilever. the entire process from me shipping it out to receiving it back took about 9 days (i have waited months and months for Soundsmith back in the day to do this).

upon receipt, i mounted it on my rig and immediately notice greater detail and depth - a more pronounced sound stage. i’m sure it can only get better as it gets broken in.

highly recommend Andy Kim at Needle Clinic.

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vegasdoceasy's avatar
vegasdoceasy
2 posts
 

I’m pleased to report an amazing experience with Andy Kim at Needle Clinic. Andy replaced the bent cantilever on my 6 month old Hana ML with a boron/mircro ridge. 

He replied immediately to my email with a price quote, and he did the repair on the same day he received the cartridge - December 24. He communicated very well and shipped it back to me the same day.  I would have had it on December 26 if someone had been home to sign for the package.  I picked it up at the post office on December 27 and it’s now back in its rightful place on my Rega P8. 
 

It sounds fantastic. Andy claims it sounds as good or better as the $2,500 Unami Blue, which makes sense because the Blue has the same engine and a boron cantilever/micro line stylus. Only the outer case should be different with this ML mod.  It sounds more detailed than I remember the ML. It was a bit jarring at first but I’m getting used to it and just loving the depth, soundstage and instrument separation. 
 

This was an A+ experience. Thank you Andy!

Equipment:

Rega P8

Hana ML modded with boron/MR stylus by Needle Clinic

ifi iPhono3 Black phono stage

Akitika PR-102 Preamp

Akitika GT-104 Amp

Emotiva T1+ speakers/Hifiman Arya Stealth headphones

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