Andy Kim - Needle Clinic

I've managed to break the stylus off my Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood, not once, but twice.  The first time I sent it to Soundsmith and the second I sent it to Andy Kim.  Both were competent and the cartridge sounded great after the retip.  Andy was a lot faster and it was a bonus that he was "local" (here in WA state).  I've learned to be super careful with the Virtuoso and hopefully the next retip will be due to wear, not operator error.

@lewm I'm not sure I understand your question or the logic behind it.  Any re-tip is the cost of the cartridge plus the re-tip. 

The cost of the re-tip however is a fraction of the cost of a new cartridge of similar quality.  In this case, the cartridge was included with a turntable that I paid $500 for, so it didn't cost me much, if anything. 

Again, I have no idea what it sounded like before, but I have to believe it's an improvement.  I wasn't expecting much and was more than pleasantly surprised.  I do have a couple of Denon DL-301 MK2 cartridges, which is a higher model than the DL-103 and the re-tipped Zu Denon is in a completely different league.

I know this thread is a little old, but wanted to share a recent experience with Andy Kim.  Some time back I bought a Technics SL 1200 MK2 that came with a Zu Denon DL-103.  To put it bluntly, it sounded like crap, lots of distortion in the left channel.  I tried another cartridge and the table sounded great.  The Zu Denon went in a box in the closet and sat there for a few months.  I ran across it one day and decided to send it to Andy to see if he could bring it back to life.

He received it on a Saturday.  I received an email Sunday saying it was almost done, and an explanation that there was a bunch of junk inside the body that he had to spend hours carefully digging out.  He outfitted it with a new micro ridge nude stylus and sapphire cantilever.  He shipped it out the next day.

Fast turnaround, check!

I didn't mount it right away, even though I was anxious to hear how it sounded.  I recently purchased a new (to me) Acoustic Signature Wow XL turntable and initially mounted my Kiseki Blue NS ($2100 retail) cartridge on that.  It sounded wonderful, but at this point I was really anxious to try out the Zu.  I fell in love with the Zu immediately, it's very dyanmic and a little more "punchy" than the Kiseki.  I couldn't believe that this $400 (original retail price) could sound this good.  The Kiseki and some of my other more expensive cartridges are a little more "refined" around the edges of the music, but none are as fun or as involving as the Zu.

Great sound, check!

He charged a little extra for all the time spent cleaning up the guts of the cartridge, but it was very reasonable.  I have a basically new high-end cartridge for less than 25% of the cost of the Kiseki Blue NS.  

Great value, check!

I don't have a frame of reference as to what the Zu Denon sounded like before the re-tip, but I can compare it favorably to other more expensive cartridges I own including the Kiseki Blue NS, Soundsmith Aida 2, Van Den Hul MC Special Two, and Hana SL.  I haven't had any desire to take it off the Wow XL, which is my main table.

This isn't the first cartridge I've had done by Andy, he also repaired my Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood and did a really nice job with that also.

I was only pointing out the total cost to someone starting out from scratch.

I was commenting on the quality, timeliness, and affordability of Andy's service, not recommending that someone send a new perfectly good cartridge to have it re-tipped.  

If someone has a cartridge that isn't working properly, Andy's (and other retippers) services offer great value in comparison to purchasing a new cart.

@lewm If you're saying that the total cost of the DL-103 and the re-tip is a better value than many other new cartridges, we are in total agreement.

I won't post what he said here, but Andy has a strong opinion about the Zu "upgrade".