ANDY (needle clinic)

I found an old discussion on the forum about Andy (needle clinic),  looking for help with my Dynavector Karat and ended up sending Andy the Karat for repair. He couldn't get at the wire that broke BUT, what he did is discuss my options and comment about various replacements for the Karat based on his many years of repairs and very critical and experienced ears. Andy had some custom made low output (limited editions) of what he called the NC-1 cartridge which he collaborated on with a manufacturer in Japan and had sent to California for resale. He sent me the description of what they wanted the cartridge to be and do and offered it to me with a no charge diagnosis on the Karat. there is luck and there is good fortune, rarely are they combined, but in this instance I was the receiver of both.
I wrote Andy the following after my setup:

Well, from the beginning....

 The set up was very easy, all aspects. The ability to see the cantilever made alignment dots  easy to place and with just a good magnifying glass the lines on my protractor were clear. There were no mounting screws so I headed to my nearest Hi FI retailer. As you said the packaging and appearance is very industrial.

  So far I may have only 20 hrs and tracking at 1.91 gms. I tried a few resistors 50, 100 , 140 ohm on my Bent Audio step up devices and so far settled on 140.

  There is a very marked difference between the NC and my old Karat. The Karat as we discussed is not a forgiving cartridge but also has super fast and sometimes brittle highs that are too sharp at times. The bass on the Karat is beautiful when it was there but so many things had to be spot on to get it off the tracks.

 The immediate and most noticeable difference was in the mid range and highs, both vocals and cymbals for instance. The NC plays them with a much warmer smoother feeling yet still very sharp, clear and very real. Piano and muted trumpet sound like they are right in front of me. The separation is greater with the NC as well as the general depth of the music. Sometimes when an instrument is behind the main players it seems to move with the music as you would expect to hear on a stage. Quite beautiful.

 Now the low midrange and bass. There are a few albums that test the ability of a cartridge to play the deepest bass without distortion or flutter. An old Fleetwood Mac and a Genesis album, older recordings that are not as sharp as newer ones but have a very warm and lovely tone to them. Anyway so far the ability of the NC to play bass that is so dramatic and pure it feels like the ground opens up and releases the energy of the earth. I am not kidding here. I have never experienced accurate and deep bass where I can still hear the strings , no smearing and overload with any previous cartridge. My corner speakers are sitting on 6 inches of concrete and the bass enveloped me and makes my intestines move. Simply incredible and I just want to play more vinyl. BTW, the write up you sent on the NC is spot on. Remarkable skill to build a cartridge and get it to sound the way you want.

 So what can I say besides a huge thank you Andy. Everything you said about the NC,I hear, and know it will only get better. I hope we can share our experiences again. RK