Experience purchasing a used high-end cartridge

I have used the Condition Check request for Valve Purchases.

I negotiate as part of the sale, the Valves are to be tested when I receive them, and are then kept on returned dependent on the measurements taken.

If the Vendors measurements are close to ones taken on my behalf, I have honoured the Purchase, in some cases the measurements on my behalf have been much improved over the Vendors recorded values.  

Having a assessment agreed as part if a sale agreement is one more step towards Caveat Emptor. 

There is another method and one used by myself.

I sought out a Cart' in need of repair, which was a model I had already agreed a rebuild design for with a Technician from a Third Party Service.

I discovered a donor Cart' at a steal and took the Punt on the purchase.

The Third Party Service evaluation made it known the Cart' was in prime condition to undergo a overhaul but was filthy.

The end product Cart' fully overhauled cost approx' 1/3 of the Donor Cart's new value, and performs much much more to my liking than the Donor Original Model with a few hundred hours usage on it. 

There are quite a few considerations to have a very good knowledge of when setting up a Cartridge.

If these considerations are not worked with to achieve an optimised interface that is maintained, a very expensive Cart' remains a very expensive Cart', or a discounted high end Cart' depending on the method of Purchase.

When not an optimised set up, there will be a Cart' in service that is not firing on Four Cylinders.

Through usage, the Cart's is being incrementally worn out, not offering near what the design for it, had as the intent for the the Cart's capabilities, as a non-optimised set up for usage, the Cart' will not being offering anything like the design intent has been for the Cart's capabilities.

A Cart' set up using Analog Magic Software not too long ago, whilst in use this weekend, was detected by the Group of listeners to have come of the sweet spot.

The very experienced TT owner has already booked the revisit from the Software owner. These are the type of commitments required, if optimised Cart' usage is to be maintained during the Cart's usage life.