Andy Kim - Needle Clinic


I wanted to put this post out there about Andy Kim of Needle Clinic, located in Bellevue, Washington. As many may know, Andy is a cartridge re-tipper. I tried to find some older posts to add my comments but couldn't find them. So I'll start another OP. I just got my Lyra Kleos back from Andy today. Here's my comments.

My Kleos sounded a little off lately, so I thought it should be checked out. I sent it to Andy Kim. It turns out all that was needed was the stylus required a cleaning and polishing. Andy reported back that the stylus only has about 10 percent wear; IOW plenty of life left.

So I remounted the Kleos today and have been playing all types of music: rock and roll, classical, and so forth. The Kleos sounds wonderful; just great. Kudos to Andy Kim.

Fyi -- some may ask why I didn't send it to Peter Ledermann at Sound-Smith. I seem to recall reading somewhere that he's been unusually busy lately -- and with good reason -- and turn around might be a bit delayed. Also, I'm not sure Peter uses replacement cantilever/stylus assemblies that match (or at least come close to) the original. Andy does.
Anyway, that is a bridge I don't have to cross today.

Bottom line: Andy turned my cartridge within a week of receipt and I am pleased.
bifwynne

Showing 4 responses by lewm

But you also got a big upgrade on the original cantilever and stylus offered on a new DL103R, which was a great idea.  I am not meaning to disagree or cause discord. I have dealt with Andy in the past, and the experience was a good one with a short waiting time.
I have no doubt what you say is true. I was only pointing out the total cost to someone starting out from scratch. As compared to the higher cost of your other cartridge. Although the audiophile  press would have us think otherwise, the relationship between cost of a cartridge and sound quality is often askew.
 But isn’t the total cost of the Zu plus re-tip more like $1000? And it’s now nothing like the original Zu as regards cantilever and stylus. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s probably way better than the original ever was.