Just had fantastic interaction with Andy Kim and Needle Clinic. I sent him a Sumiko Songbird for re-tipping and it came back sounding significantly better than the original. He also completed the work and shipped the cartridge back to me the same day he received it. Oh, and you can reach him by phone, which was great because he convinced me I could re-install the cartridge myself vs. taking it to the stereo shop. Could not recommend Andy more highly.
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.
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.
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Andy replaced the stylus on my 20+ year old Linn Arkiv. 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. |
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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 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
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I damaged the stylus on my Dyna 20XXL. Andy replaced the damaged stock stylus with a new microridge-that was 4 years ago and its still sounding better than the original on my Amadeus Mk2. The replacement made a positive impact on detail and even more so on channel separation. He completed the work quickly and communicated well throughout the process. Highly recommended. The community is lucky to have Andy as a resource. |
Kim did subpar work on a cart for me, and when I sent a photo showing an obviously crooked cantilever he responded with a ridiculous word salad instead of just saying what he should have said" "I'm sorry. Send it back and I'll make it right." After a bit of back and forth I decided to send it elsewhere because I was getting a real strong vibe that he was going to spit into my soup, if you know what I mean. Based on everything I've read about Kim, on Audiogon and elsewhere, your odds of getting a job well done are pretty good, but there's also a chance you'll get hosed. The work I've had done by Soundsmith, VAS and Joseph Long was all done correctly the first time. |
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@viridian...lol! Took me sec to get it, but that's clever! |
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