I’ll happily avoid MusicDirect and MoFi for all future purchases, on your behalf. The digital master one-steps debacle didn’t disturb me that much, but this does.
A Story about a Defective Signature Platinum
Last week I was listening to music at a healthy volume while sitting at my computer. I have an auto lifter (Little Fwend) and after the arm lifted I noticed a static noise with occasional popping coming out of the left channel about 40 dB down. At first I thought it was a bad tube but it disappeared when I turned the volume down. It is in front of the Preamp. None of the other sources had the noise. Swapping tonearm cables did not seem to change the sound but then I noticed that the sound was also in the right channel just farther down. Disconnecting the tonearm stopped the noise. I change over to an MC Diamond, no noise. Same with the Atlas, no noise. Swapped back to the MSL, noise is back.
The cartridge is exactly one year old but it rotates with two other cartridges and might have 75 hours on it. I called the dealer who told me to contact MoFi distribution, the US agent for MSL. Turns out the cartridge only has a 90 day warranty and I was told I would have to send it in for a rebuild for $6000! Can't they just fix the problem for maybe $500, No. Can't I just send it in for evaluation? The stylus and cantilever are brand new. No, a rebuild is the only option and you have to do that through the dealer, click! Most very expensive cartridges have a 2 year warranty on them not to mention that most companies would cover such a defect even off warranty as in the absence of physical damage it is obviously a manufacturing defect, a bad solder joint or maybe just two wires rubbing together. This is very disappointing and as far as customer service goes Home Depot is better than MoFi, Sears is better than MoFi! MoFI is right up there with Anthem Blue Cross! The service rep could have offered to look into it. Maybe communicate with MSL and get their opinion. I am sure if MSL knew about it they would gladly fix it and actually be embarrassed. The Japanese are like that. There is no way I can find to get directly in touch with MSL.
$6000 is not an option. I am not going to throw good money after bad. I am also not going to off a defective cartridge on someone else. I am going to take the cartridge apart and reflow the solder joints and make sure the wires are separated. If that doesn't fix it, it goes in the trash.
Mistakes and defects happen, it is what you do about them that counts. MoFi failed dismally in this regard. MSL makes a fine cartridge but I would only get another one if they changed agents and increased their warranty. Obviously, I will avoid buying any other MoFi products myself and warn others about their customer service. I have no further use for the dealer who did nothing to help. I have had superb service from Musical Surroundings, Soundsmith, B+H Photo and the Cable Company. All handled issues with ease. Has anyone else had trouble with MoFi? What companies have provided you with excellent service when the sh-t hit the fan?
Showing 9 responses by mulveling
That’s an awful story. Very sorry to hear this happen to you. Shame on MoFi! This makes a case that the traditional distributor / dealer model for cartridges is broken. One of the worst "middle man" arrangements in this hobby. Huge (multi -$K) markups simply for the privilege of routing an 8 ounce package to a buyer, with NO support & service heroics? No thanks. Completely needless. Of course your complaint against MoFi is not isolated -- it makes me sad they’ve gained such a prominent role in our hobby. I certainly avoid them for large purchases, and try to avoid them on small stuff too. Anyways, the dealer and manufacturer shouldn’t totally be off the hook here, either. I agree with others -- don’t toss the cart out. It still has value. Besides the usual SoundSmith and VAS suspects, there are also other talented cartridge rebuilders. Take some time, look around. A good one should be proud of showing off their work. Ana Mighty Sound (France), Delta667 (Russian guy on the vinlyengine forums, though you can’t get to him these days), and Sửa Kim Than Cartridges (Vietnam, found him on Facebook) have all shown very impressive work IMO.
I haven’t dipped into Grado cartridges yet, but what I have seen from them (I started in headphones), I have 100% confidence they would make things right in the situation OP describes. One more anecdote. I have a local friend who made a HUGE stretch purchase for a brand new Ortofon Jubilee MC while we has working & still going through college. This was ~1- years ago. He wore a fuzzy sweater one winter day, and well wouldn’t you know it -- snagged the stylus right off. Almost in tears, he was ready to write it off as a complete loss. At our dealer’s insistence (sadly this dealer is no longer in the business - I miss him) he sent it back to Ortofon to "look over" and see what they could do (note: this was before Ortofon offered rebuild services). A few/several months later (Euros love their vacations haha) he got back a BRAND NEW Jubilee MC, no charge. Ortofon looked over the cartridge, and determined that the glue had failed before the cantilever, which is not how they’d intended it to fail. Or maybe they just decided to be nice and made up that bit about the failure mode :) So they replaced it under warranty! Shout out to Ortofon and Louis on that one. |
@mijostyn Nice! I forgot to mention my own experiences with Musical Surroundings have been extremely positive. They’ve gone to bat for me in the past, and I think they’re an example of a great distributor. For posting pics here - I’ve hosted images on my imgur account and and then inserted image links to that. Haven’t gotten images to embed & host themselves on agon yet, but haven’t tried in a while either. |
I’ve had almost 30 MCs over 15 years at this point, and only 1 incident that wasn’t perpetrated by myself. With discipline, common sense, and a little knowledge about how these things work, it’s not really hard to keep from damaging them - unless you have physical issues like shaky hands etc. That said, I get the abundance of caution, and 11K (or thereabouts) is a lot of chips to place in one basket. What’s really galling here is that damage from user error ALWAYS leaves obvious physical evidence. In this case, it sounds like one of those rare unfortunate scenarios that ties back to a true manufacturing defect. Not necessarily the cartridge maker, but perhaps supplier of the fine wire etc. @mijostyn is an experienced high-end analog aficionado, and I think it's safe to assume this cartridge was in good care by him. And NO ONE in the sales / distribution chain has even stepped up to say "hey, sorry - maybe we should at least take a look into this". AT A MINUMUM. Not a good look for any of the involved parties! |
Awesome! Fingers crossed for you - hoping this effects the full fix you're expecting. No doubt in my mind, a simple repair to lead wire as you've described here keeps it as a 100% factory original MSL Platinum. I'd almost question the need /justification for quoted repair cost given such a fix (most of the way to a re-tip for a single wire splice), but if in your shoes I would be grateful for service rendered nonetheless. |
@daveyf are you referencing the Shelter 501 / "Crown Jewel" debacle, or something else? I've definitely been of the opinion that the high markups on distributor-imported Japanese cartridges are an extremely shaky value proposition, at best. When you can get the cart at half price or even less, and you set it up yourself, what is the value in service & warranty - even a GOOD warranty (which is not what you get with MD)? The topic of this thread just further solidifies my outlook. |
The friend in question has heard high-end Lyra’s at his dealer, and they’re definitely not to his preference. He’s looking for something that hits a middle ground between that and Koetsu, perhaps more to the Koetsu side. He really likes my Blue Lace but that’s out of the running now, sadly. Hasn’t heard MSL yet, but I think he’s pretty well sold on the Platinum doing something along those lines. |
Well, good on MoFi / MusicDirect for following through and doing the right thing! Even though it took a fair threshold of blowback to get their butts moving lol. I remain unimpressed by the "value add" offered by official high-end cartridge importers / distributors, but at least it’s nonzero. My next (somewhat related) concern is how much longer we can expect service (even if just a 50% trade in allowance) & production from MSL. Do they have a cartridge master heir in place? Koetsu is now down with questionable future (RIP Fumihiko Sugano). I’ve heard some concerning rumblings about Benz / Lukaschek. Shelter seems to be winding way down - I couldn’t even get a 901 Mk 3 when I wanted to order one. A LOT of the old guard cartridge masters are at "that age". I have a friend interested in an MSL Platinum and this is a key concern of his. |
Your MSL listing is a fantastic deal. I have 2 friends who want it but they’re not in a position to do it now (and their wives would kill then). I’m sort of tempted myself, but I have way too much gear to be buying another cart like that. Your listing is perfect as is; no need to justify. I’m surprised it hasn’t sold yet! |