New cartridge vs. Re-tipped

There is no cut and dry answer. It depends on the cartridge, who is doing the service, and what their retipping service includes. It can be done cheaply and/or badly and change the original cartridge for the worse, or it can be done very well at greater cost (e.g. in the case of Lyra or Dynavector factory rebuild service) and result in something the same as the original and possibly even better.

There is no one good answer to such a general question.

To follow on my previous post. I had my Dynavector XV-1s factory rebuilt early last year. It came back better than it ever was before. The distributor (he’s local to me and told me himself) said when they rebuilt it they included improvements to the design they had made since mine was new. Only the body and magnets remained from the original. I essentially got an improved version of my original that’s like new, and it sounds better than I ever remember the original.

OTOH: I had someone tell me a 3rd party retip they got back was a butcher job. The re-tip servicer cut off the cantilever and slipped another one over the remaining shaft with a new tip, but it changed the sound and performance for the worse.

I suppose you get what you pay for. Do the research if the cartridge has value. I have two Lyra Atlas and a DV XV-1s. I plan to stand pat with official factory rebuilds for them all. It’s costly but factory service preserves the cartridges as they are meant to be.

It's costly to do but there is no way I would send my Lyra cartridges to a 3rd party for retip. Factory rebuild is the way to go, especially with Etna and Atlas.

I have a Koetsu Rosewood Signature with a missing stylus. It was given to me by a dealer that was going to throw it in the trash after replacing with a different cartridge for a customer. I plan to have it repaired after I decide what retipper to send it to.

I’m still trying to decide what to do with my broken Koetsu Rosewood but sending it to Joseph Long (groovetickler) is at the top of my list. A couple people have said to me elsewhere not to use VAS. When I inquired with VAS he said I had to send it there first just to get an estimate. That’s a non-starter for me, and seems like a questionable tactic to me for getting new business. I'm in no rush to deal with it.

@chayro @dogberry @mulveling 

Thanks for your feedback. I’ve only heard great things about Joseph Long and mixed reviews about VAS, so I’ll stand with what I said before in considering the former and avoiding the latter.

I've also heard good things about Allclear Audio, but I'd like to avoid shipping to/from Australia.

@jcarr 

Thanks so much for posting this. I am a happy owner of both Atlas Lambda SL and Atlas Lambda Mono (Joe Harley talked me into it  ). These are great, great cartridges and I have saved this information you posted for future reference. 

I keep my records cleaned with a Degritter II and use SPT before every listening session. I use the provided carbon brush to wipe the stylus after every record. 

These cartridges sound so fantastic. I love playing my records, new and old. I also have a DV XV-1s but haven't used it in a while.