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Off center (not bent!) stylus?

Relative newbie here - just looking for some thoughts / experiences from all you resident experts. 

I have been buying used carts for my vintage setup exclusively. It certainly seems like every stylus is not perfectly parallel with the cantilever and always seems to lean ever so slightly to one side or another. Seems like new ones can be like this too. So I assume a bit of a lean is normal / not an issue.

My question is, is there a limit to this? Can a more extremely off center stylus cause problems in sound quality / record damage? Could it be a sign that the stylus / cantilever assembly is about to fail? Or is it more a matter of if you don’t hear anything wrong don’t sweat it.

Here are some pics of what I’m talking about:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/m2m9FhU9VumD6uss6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kMLyfhba4pFxKMGJ7

Again I don’t see any visible bend or kink in the stylus. The stylus itself is straight but i comes out of the cantilever at an angle. 

Any experiences (positive, negative or neutral) with this? 

Thanks in advance!

Hauie
hauie88

Showing 7 responses by chakster

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@chakster you mean the stylus / cantilever is damaged not the cartridge, right? And in your experience how do replacement styluses affect performance on this cartridge? (btw I got this cart on your recommendation from a separate thread so thanks!)

This model, but not this cart to be correct.

Stylus and cantilever is the most important, your cantilever is off and I’m not sure how can you align it, some people on audiogon are crazy about alignment even a new cartridge, but your cartridge cantilever is damaged.

Since it’s not an MC you can replace the stylus assembly yourself, you need a genuine Pickering stylus (very hard to find,  and cost as much as the new cartridge or close).


Expert Stylus Company in UK can fix your damaged cartridge, they are specialized in Stanton / Pickering repair.

As I said many times on this forum it make sense to buy ONLY NOS or gentry used cartridges in perfect condition when it comes to those gems from the 70’s.
It seems like the seller rip you off (or, if it was too cheap, now you know why).
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I have nearly all top Pickering cartridges including your model, nice cartridge, but you must find a new replacement stylus, your cartridge is damaged, this is NOT normal! 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
So it seems to me that as long as a replacement stylus assembly is made with care and with the same materials as the original you can largely replicate the original sound. So sounds like Expert Stylus is where to go for this model!



Exactly, let us know when you will get any info from Expert Stylus & Co. 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
You will not find genuine Pickering replacement for your XSV/5000 cartridge, this cartridge is extremely rare and genuine stylus is very hard to find. Do not buy fake styli, the goal of the original is Stereohedron MKII stylus profile and Samarium Cobalt Magnet!

Regarding position of the cantilever please look at my image of XSV/4000.

Stereohedron stylus was manufactured by Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co in United Kingdom for Stanton/Pickering. Now same company is a re-tipping/refurbishing service. Because Stereohedron was Stanton’s Patent the new stylus from Expert Stylus & Co. called Paratrace. If you want to refurbish Pickering/Stanton then Expert Stylus in UK is what you need! 

Contact info for you: 

Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co
info@expertstylus.co.uk 

Last time I contacted them in 2016 and it was Julia Thompson (Client Liaison).
She was very quick with replies by email 




chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Wow, things changed since  2016. When I asked them about Stanton (or even Technics MM) the answer was positive all the time, but it was 4 years ago.
Did they explain why they can’t now? 

I have one spare D4000 stylus in the box, but never tried D4000 on XSV/5000 cartridge.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Ask Julia if they can repair your cartridge with their Paratrace stylus on different (new) aluminum cantilever. 

Stereohedron stylus was designed after Quadrahedron and it’s much better than Quadrahedron. Then there was Stereohedron mkII. 

XSV/5000 is much better cartridge/stylus than older XSV/3000. The closest to XSV/5000 is XSV/4000.
The original stylus I have is Stereohedron type. 

They are all comes with brush (brush is removable).

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
No, I ask them for repair and retip, but I ended up getting the original replacement. 
Probably they can do retip on original cantilever, but your situation is different since the suspension was damaged. 
Anyway, I think it’s nearly impossible to find an original D4000 stylus, I have one spare.
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