Can Sound-Smith tip sound as good as original?

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

Dear Jcarr: Really thank you for the wide information on your last post.

It was/is time that some one like you ( a cartridge designer ) put things in the right perspective puting a precise line between a cartridge manufacturer re-tip/re-build and a non cartridge manufacturer re-tip job: Huge difference for say the least!!!!!!Good. ( even for no expensive cartridges ).

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Jonathan Carr, while you state factually incorrect, in my issue what I posted is factually correct as I experienced. Perhaps a heart to heart with your dealers and/or distributors is warranted. I could not take the Lyra back to original dealer as the shop closed years ago. You have a splendid product and have recommended the Lyra line to many folks. My most recent recommendation was the Dorian to a dear friend of mine and he is most happy with it.

Dynavector is a whole other story, which doesn't warrant space here. But suffice to say I will never own another Dynavector product of any kind and haven't in some 10 plus years.

I am deep into vinyl playback average about 30 hours per week. So come late next year the Lyra may need service again.

For the 50 years I have been in this hobby business,each and everyone of my customers are treated like gold, because that is just what they are - GOLD. Over the course of the years I have taken gear in that I never sold and took care of that customer. Reason is simple, he/she came to me with a problem. I solved that problem, because I wanted that new customer. I certainly did not want them shopping around, when the situation was in my domain to solve. While I have taken loses over the years, I have gained far more new customers that have stayed with me and continue to do so.

At 65 now I am no doubt considered a dinosaur by todays current business models. However today we are seeing a vast amount of business that are closing there doors and the root problem is customer service.

I do wish Lyra continued success, but on my end it is time for me to re-evalaute. Thus far Benz Micro has my vote when it comes to customer service.

I got so annoyed with the problem of stylus replacement on MC cartridges that I went back to the good old reliable Shure V15. It was always..."we can't fix your cartridge but we will give you a discount on the new model, which happens to cost a lot more". BS I say!

I had a cart retipped by Soundsmith, and it was fantastic. I imagined it was better than the original, since I had the Optimized Contour stylus put on, which was a different profile than the original stylus.

But, I never got to hear my cart factory fresh on my Raven One. By the time I got the table, the cart was well into it's life. So it;s not a truly fair comparison.

The choice of stylus profile when retipping it important. The Standard vs.Optimized contour really makes a difference, as it a dance between information retrieval vs. groove (damage) noise. I know this first hand since I have the Strain Gauge with both types of styli and can change styli within a few seconds.

Records in good shape are great with the Optimized contour, while a number of used LP's I own (that were not played on good carts) fair better with the Standard Contour.

The other issue is one of time frame. I believe Soundsmith does retips as a labor of love, (all personally done by Peter) and hence there is a fairly long wait time. And the more people that find out about this amazing service, I suspect the longer the times will be. So clearly a person would have to have a spare cart while they wait for the retip.

I didn't have a spare and picked up one of their inexpensive SMMC-3's while waiting for my cart to return. I was pretty shocked how good a $300 cart sounded, but then again it was in a Raven One/Phantom, so I imagine anything would sound good on that.