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Fremer's review of the Anna cartridge

Fremer reviews the $8499 cartridge very positively, but it takes three different samples of the cartridge for him to get there. The first sample exhibited "an incompatibility between the adhesives used and the elastomer of which the cartridge's damper is made." Fremer notes "[e]vidently, however, this problem didn't affect every Anna that left the factory." Wow, what a relief. In the second sample, apparently "some the glue that secures the stylus in the cantilever had dripped." The third sample, after 100 hrs of break-in finally delivered. Fremer suggests buying and using an USB microscope as part of the cartridge buying process.

Does anyone else think this is absolutely nuts? It seems to me, at this price level, every single cartridge should be absolutely perfect. Haven't Ortofon heard of quality control? This also applies to Lyra whose $9500 Atlas cartridge had the stylus affixed to the cantilever at an angle that made it virtually impossible to get the SRA of 92 degrees.
actusreus
jebsmith73
167 posts
 
Speaking of poor QC ,a friend bought a brand new Graham Phantom tone arm. This tone arm had wiring problems right out of the Box! The Magna Glide system was loose, both magnets were touching! Ordered two tone arms, one was .060 thousands longer than the other! 5K retail , what a big joke.
sarcher30
596 posts
 
Jeb, .060 variance in length is hardly something to worry about considering the headshell has slots to adjust the overhang. Wiring problems are not good though. The magnets are adjustable I assume. Those problems may have happened in shipping or someone had a bad day. I assume the issues were addressed in a timely manner?
sarcher30
596 posts
 
Kiddman, Good points. The smaller the industry the more likely this will happen. We are the guinea pigs. What's even worse is when there is an obvious design flaw that the company ignores that is a cheap fix. I've seen people complaining about the same problem for years. You would think the company would have solved it by then.
jebsmith73
167 posts
 
Arm wand replaced, wiring problem found and repaired . Magna Glide magnets were just loose. None of these conditions were caused by "shipping" .
actusreus OP
733 posts
 
Nandric
The cart producers get the whole cantilever/stylus combo from their supplier. The so called 'retip' is usually a simple substitution of this combo. The 'real retip' by which a new stylus is glued in the existing cantilever seems to be much more difficult job to do. So the solution of the 'stylus problem' is obvious. To 'virtually rebuild the cartridge' and ask unreasonable price make no sense to me. If one need to change the tyre one will rarely rebuild the whole car because of the tyre. No wonder the most of us use repair cervices like Ledermann , Axel Schurholz, Van den Hul, etc.

I agree. Generous trade-in programs can be a partial answer to the retip problem as well. I know Lyra offers a pretty good trade-in deal with their cartridges, regardless of their shape. That's just good business as it provides a strong incentive for ownership continuity. But I still think a retip should not cost almost as much as a brand new cartridge given that the stylus will wear out even with very responsible listening habits and utmost care taken, possibly quite quickly if someone plays their records a lot. It would be unthinkable to have to pay nearly as much as the cost of an amplifier every time power tubes had to be replaced. But then I guess you can't just replace the stylus yourself...
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