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
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Andy replaced the stylus on my 20+ year old Linn Arkiv in one day.  It now sounds fabulous--much better in every way.  He was also very helpful to me.  I had a difficult time removing the cartridge from the Linn tone arm and was concerned about damage I might cause putting the "new" cartridge back in.  I brought it to Andy and he did it for me.  I can't recommend Andy enough.  

I just received back the Benz Ebony L I sent to Andy.  It was back within a week after I sent it including two cross country trips.  It sounds better than before and the price was quite reasonable.  Fantastic service from Andy!

I have used Andy's service twice.  The first was retipping my Accuphase AC3 in 2018 with micro ridge nude diamond.  The second time is my Highphonic MC-A6 last week with same type of tip/cantilever.  Both cartridges show sound improvements over the original, very fine high end and in great detail.  

I highly recommend Andy to everyone for cartridge repair/retip.

Frank

 

I just had my Winfield cart retipped by Soundsmith.  Quick turn around, excellent sound.