Waaaah. Snapped off my cantilever.

Rodman99999. Oh yes, i've heard plentiful ruby cantilevered cartridges, both stock ruby omn Ortofon cartridges and Soundsmith ruby on repaired cartridges of various makes . Ruby is a lovely material for a cantilever but boron is better especially when it comes to the very fine detail retrieval due to its extra stiffness and significant lightness. The Soundsmith ruby cantilever is a worthwhile upgrade if your cartridge originally had an aluminium cantilever but it would be a retrograde move for a boron cantilevered cartridge.

Why do you believe ruby is an upgrade on boron? You use the term 'much upgraded' so i am interested in your response and to what cartridges you've compared where you have moved from a boron cantilever to a ruby one.

Mr D- My question was whether you had heard the XX with a ruby cantilever. I have and thought it more organic(natural/alive, while retaining air/ambiance), which to me is an improvement, as I actually listen to more live music, than canned. I probably should have qualified that, "much improved", with a, "personal preference" disclaimer. That the stylus profile was different adds a variable as well(same records listened to/probably another area of the groove). Boron and ruby are both extremely rigid(boron-9.5 Mohs scale, ruby-9, diamond-10) and(actually) some of the hardest substances on Earth. That their specific gravities come in(respectively) at 2.4 and 4, should give boron an edge regarding moving mass and(yes) detail retrieval, depending on the length of the cantilever, compliance and other mechanical considerations. However: Being a tuned system; every cartridge is unique and(like every recording's mix) subject to the tuner's biases.

Dear Rodman99999: cartridge cantilever and cantilever build material is only a single part of the cartridge design, important yes but certainly not the one that makes the difference. A cartridge design is the sum of its parts where and through those parts and fine tunning it the designer works to achieve the quality performce targets and only the cartridge designer knows exactly why boron or why ruby or why aluminum. All is about design targets.

Now, it is not only the cantilever build material important but the cantilever shape/length/rod or tube/thikness of cantilever walls and the like.

In the other side the cantilever does not transmit music but only movements that the trasducer convert in " music ". Even IMHO the stylus as a whole is more important than the cantilever along the kind of cartridge suspension because that gives the abilitie or not to track the grooves accurately. Yes, the cantilever is important but maybe not in the way you are looking at.

A re-tipped cartridge that was not re-tipped by the cartridge manufacturer is a different cartridge and not a better one because the cantilever build material.

A universal retipper does not rebuild the whole cartridge with a retipper quality performance targets, he only change cantilever/stylus and suspension adjustments and at random left the cartridge quality performance.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Even I can assure that the universal re-tipped cartridge specs are different from the original one.

R.

Like I said, "depending on the length of the cantilever, compliance AND OTHER MECHANICAL CONSIDERATIONS. However: Being a tuned SYSTEM; every cartridge is unique and(like every recording's mix) SUBJECT to the TUNER'S BIASES." BUT- Thanx for pontificating. =;^)