Helikon Retip Experience?

Nandric, I reread your first post. "We got some lessons in 'modesty' " What are you referring to?

I'll take a stab at what I think you mean. This is NOT new to ME. YOU have just learn there was more to stylus and/or cantilever replacement than just a dab of super glue. You will find this has been discussed before if you search the archives.

No, I will not tell people not to go to retipper, only that the cartridge will not be the same as a factory job if they chose to do so. Different is not necessarily bad. I was quite happy with my XV-1s that was retipped by that guy in New York. I had made several large purchases at the time and I was short on cash so I was happy to have an alternative. That retip/cantilever served me very well for a couple of years. Was it a stock xv-1s? No, but it still played music beautifully.

I'll try this analogy. Say I have a brand new tire. I'm driving along and get a nail in my new tire, right in the middle of the tread. I can a) buy a new tire at $100, or b) have the tire plugged or patched for $30. Either way I'll get moving again, but b lets me keep some cash for a little while longer.

Dear Dan_ed, The metaphor 'geting a picture' means putting
all the peaces of information we have at some point in time
together in some kind of jigsaw. The (mentaly )constructed 'puzzle' will miss some parts but who is 'perfectly informed'. The most of us have consequently an 'incomplete picture'.
After reading Jcarr's contribution in the 'which Glider retip' thread (06-13-11) I wrote: 'this is actualy an frightening story'.
The 'missing parts' in my puzzle or picture were: 'the dempers and suspension have been selected according to the cantilever material', etc.
The part which I ,so to speak, 'preowned' by reading some retip info by some retip service was: 'one can choose different cantilever and stylus shape' ; from 100-400 Euro. Those cantilever /stylus combos are bought as such
from the suppliers and are much easier to 'fix' then a
stylus in the (pre) existing cantilever.
I provided the address of this retip service in Holland in good faith and, to be honest,even thought that I am well informed and can helpt others as well...
This is the context for my post (06-16-11) addressing you
with: 'Dan_ed we got some lessons in 'modesty' by Jcarr.'
What I meant is of course my assumption that 'we' are actualy ill informed but think that we know so much. So Jcarr teached us a lesson . I am sorry to have used the 'we' expression because you seem to have known all the details Jcarr informed us about? Are you also informed about,say, the dempers which Ortofon produces in their lab
for their carts? I am ,you know, because I have read the whole story about Ortofon in Hi-fi news but was not able to make the connection. Ie this piece never become a part
of my puzzle or picture. Those are 'similar things' I thought. But you probable know the story of AKG? The AKG destroyed their whole stock of carts because their dempers
were bad designed. They wanted to avoid the liability issue.
You are of course free to do with your carts what you like
but I will never ever dream to buy an 'exotic Koetsu' for,
say, $1500 and then provide a ruby cantilever with a Geiger
stylus for 400 Euro and feel very smart.

Regards,

As you stated in your post that you refer to, YOU assumed. We have a saying in english that is meant to be a joke. "Assume only makes an ass out of u and me." I hope you take this in the humorous spirit it is intended, I am not poking a stick at you. The meaning is that assumptions usually get us into trouble.

I am not a cartridge designer, nor do I repair them, nor do I know the intricate details. All I really need or care to know is that if you send your cart to the factory it will come back as the designer intended it to. If you go somewhere else it will probably be a little different. So If you wish to believe that I'm being less than truthful there is nothing more I can do.

I didn't know Koetsu made a $1500 cartridge, but that line has never appealed to my tastes. I did send my $5000 Dynavector to a retipper once and I know others who have sent even more expensive carts to retippers. It doesn't make them or me bad people. ;-)

I now represent Dynavector and a few other products. I felt I should represent Dynavector in the way in which they intended, and I have the money now, so I sent my XV-1s to the factory so that when I demo Galibier, Durand, and Dynavector they all sound as their respective designers intended.

Dear Dan_ed, I learned that stating one's assumptions (aka
premise ) explicit beforhand is some kind of precondition
to understand each other. The logical part connected with
'deductions' which we make from a given premise , entails
that if the premise is not true then the deduced statements are also not true. Ie despite of the correct deduction. Your thoughts about assumptions are very strange to me.
Jcarr contribution imply for me some other premises then those which I assumed to be true. From his statements it
was obvious for me that the most people will put some other cantilever/ stylus in the existing cart. Ie a cart with a given suspension ,etc. which we deed not consider as relevant because of the lack of knowledge or information. The repairs which involve a change of suspension and other parts are very expensive so those are rare, I assume.
My 'Koetsu dream' was obviously not clear to you because I made my 'dream assumptions' not explicit enough for you.
This however does not mean that others were not able to
grasp what meant. I thought about a second hand Koetsu with a broken cantilever or defective stylus which I would buy for ,say, $1500 and retip with a ruby cantilever + Geiger stylus for 400 Euro. The 'smart' part is of course
involved in the sum: for $2000 I would have a cart for which other idiots pay 6-8 K. I wanted to make clear how naive this dream was in the contex of the information we got from Jcarr. Chapiche?

Regards,