Can Sound-Smith tip sound as good as original?

Raul, just so I understand you clearly, you are saying that on a cartridge such as the Clearaudio Virtuoso, a retip job from a company like Sound-Smith is acceptable, but when you get to cartridges in the $2000+ range, it would be better to get a retip from the manufacturer? I mean I love the way this Virtuoso sounds right now, but the cantilever is slightly bent and I need to get it replaced so as not to cause damage to my records. It's also nearly impossible to properly setup a cart with a bent cantilever. However, I would be very disappointed if my rebuild from Sound-Smith sounded worse than how it sounds right now.

I'd like to hear from someone who has upgraded their Virtuoso to the ruby cantilever from Sound-Smith, because that is the option I am considering. But Raul, I understand that you have had your Virtuoso rebuilt by Sound-Smith, and from what you said, it sounds almost identical to the original stylus. Am I correct?

In my experience trying to get the original manufacturer to service one of their own cartridges is an excercise in futility. This past year I tried to get Lyra to service the cartridge and I was totally ignored. Basically from thier dealers I was told that a trade in was the only answer to a newer Lyra. A few years earlier went through the same grief with Dynavector. The only high end cartridge manufacturer that attended to my concerns and accomplished the work I requested as Benz Micro. No trying to upgrade me to a newer unit, or other smoke and mirror tactics.

While the Lyra now sounds wonderfull, in the future I will once again return to Benz Micro. Apparently they appreciate their customer base far more than their competitors and it shows in their customer service.

Thus far the work on the Lyra I have done by Soundsmith is first rate, no complaints. If it had not been first rate work I would have reported it on Audiogon.

Dear Jwglista: Yes you are correct.

Ferrari sad to know about maybe I'm lucky, four times I bent the cantilever on my Colibri ( it is very difficult " to move/work " around ten tonearms/cartridges at the same time. ) and Van denHul give me first rate service, one time the XV-1 and Dynavector give me first rate service even one of my Koetsus has to be re-build and I got very good service.
This week my friend Guillermo bent the cantilever on his XV-1s and Dynavector ( again ) give him the right support.

Of course that every one speaks on its own experiences that in your case are really bad but in my case really fine ????!!!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Ferrari: I don't know what you have been told by your dealer, but what you posted is factually incorrect. We regularly service our cartridges, normally through our authorized dealers and national distributor. If anyone has a problem with a Lyra cartridge, they are recommended to return the cartridge to the dealer that they purchased it from, and the dealer will return it to the distributor who will send it on to us. If anyone feels that their dealer isn't giving them satisfaction, feel free to contact us and we will try to sort out the situation.

At times we may recommend a trade-in if repairing an old cartridge is not cost-effective (in other words, if it would be cheaper or equivalent in cost to trade-in to a current cartridge model with superior performance), but if the customer stipulates that they want their old cartridge repaired or rebuilt, we will do so.

From everything that I've heard, most other cartridge manufacturers (including Dynavector) also have a cartridge servicing and rebuild program, and again I'd suggest talking to the dealer that you purchase the cartridge from, or an authorized dealer. Note that if you ask a dealer to help you with service work on a product that you didn't buy from him, you are in effect asking him to work for free, so he may refer you back to the distributor or manufacturer, or act like they are unaware that the cartridge manufacturer has a product service program.

hth, jonathan carr

Jwglista:

Different cartridge manufacturers may have different policies, but here's what we (Lyra) do we receive a cartridge for rework. We don't just retip the stylus or cantilever, but replace all wearable parts with brand-new ones. This includes the stylus, cantilever, coils, suspension, dampers, cantilever mount, recharging the magnets, replacing the cartridge body if it has been marred, and so on. Also, we sometimes develop improvements for a given cartridge model which we will retrofit to a cartridge that is returned for repair, so the customer gets back an improved cartridge that is rebuilt to the latest specifications.

This beyond the capabilities of a non-original cartridge retipper, and is likely the reason why Raul prefers to have (at least) expensive cartridges rebuilt by the original cartridge manufacturer.

Our cartridge rebuild policy is implemented by either supplying a completely new cartridge to the customer, or taking the old cartridge completely to pieces, replacing every part that needs to be replaced, deep-cleaning every other part, and building the cartridge back together again in the same manner and same quality-control as a brand-new cartridge. Normally a new cartridge will be sent out because this takes less time and the customer can get their cartridge back sooner, but if the customer wants their particular cartridge to be rebuilt and is willing to wait, we will oblige.

hth, jonathan carr