Retip for zyx

To the person who suggested that I should compare a retipped universe to an OEM universe, I can’t do that because I only have one universe cartridge, and it has its original stylus, which has only 50 or so hours on it.

However, tooblue’s experience tends to confirm what we have already been saying, if you choose to re- tip using an after market vendor, it is best to choose cantilever materials and a stylus shape that most closely resemble those of the original.

tooblue, When you say "the same cartridge", do you refer to the Grace Ruby, or which other?  If the Grace Ruby, you evidently chose to put a boron cantilever on it.  Now it's a Grace Boron.  Neither cartridge is now "stock", but I do own a second Grace Ruby that has still got its OEM cantilever and stylus.  IMO, it sounds a bit different from the SS re-tipped one.  Maybe more top to bottom "continuous" (in HPs terminology) but less exciting and less "you are there".

Hdm, I have the SS OCL ruby on my Grace Ruby. I agree it’s finicky.

Tooblue. I am not sure what you are offering. I do own the low output, copper coil, X version of the Universe, but if you have the same, what is there to gain?

Before I got crazy with turntables, tonearms, and cartridges, which must have been about 10 years ago and definitely coincides with my finding these various fora for discussion,  I owned only one turntable, one tonearm, and one cartridge at a time, for the previous 30 years of audiophilia.  That last single cartridge was/is a Koetsu Urushi, which I purchased new in Tokyo, thanks to the language skills of our son.  In the pre-crazy days, it rode only in my Triplanar on my Notts Hyperspace. I still have the Urushi and the TP but not the Notts.  The Urushi sat in its wooden box for the last at least 6-7 years while I happily fiddled around with many other cartridges, most of them MM or MI types. 

I very grossly estimate that the Urushi has a few hundred hours on it, and I was thinking of selling it after first having it inspected by SS, so I could make an honest statement of its condition.  I recently learned that SS can now do boron cantilevers, which I believe is a match to the Koetsu material, or at least its the same metal, and I was lately also thinking about a re-tip at SS.  I could probably get it re-tipped by Koetsu via the dealer in Tokyo from whom I purchased it, but that would entail a lot of footwork for my son Dan, and he is a busy guy.  Anyway, I only recently decided to give it a whirl, before spending any money. I mounted it on my Kenwood L07D with aftermarket copper platter mat and riding on the L07J tonearm in an 18g Ortofon L9000 headshell that I bought in Tokyo.  (I always wondered whether the effective mass of the TP was sufficiently high to get the most out of the Urushi, which has low compliance.)  Wow!  I am pleasantly surprised.  After some burn-in using the Cardas test LP and after a few more hours of playing music, the Urushi is sounding great and is no longer a candidate for dismissal just yet.  It's probably still a bit short of my very favorite MI and the ZYX Universe, but I don't remember it ever sounding this good on my Notts/TP.  (But on the other hand, my system is also better now than it was then.) The one criticism so far is bass articulation, compared to the Universe, the AT ART7, and the Acutex LPM320.  However, the midrange and treble are really delicious. I guess the next step, following JCarr's advice, would be to do the Boron cantilever/OCL from SS.

Chakster, To say you want to hear the "original" sound of a vintage cartridge is almost an oxymoron.  If we define "vintage" as "older than 30 years", then you are buying a 30-or more year old suspension.  We have no way of knowing how such an old cartridge sounded when it was "original", which implies "new", because of unavoidable changes in the suspension due to aging.  Once we accept this fact, I totally agree that there are some gems among vintage cartridges, especially MM and MI types. (I have yet to unearth a NOS or used vintage LOMC that made me want to celebrate.  Some are good though.)

Also, so far as I know, ZYX is not alone among the manufacturers who charge quite a large fraction of the original value to do "renewal" at the factory.  Most do.  Miyajima seem to be an exception to the rule.  Maybe also van den Hul.

tooblue, JCarr has not been around this forum for quite some time, but I am sure he would refute your contention that any of his Lyra cartridges should benefit from the installation of a ruby cantilever.  He specifically mentions why in his posts to be found in this thread, which all date back to 2013.  This is not to say that you cannot like what you hear.

I am glad this thread got resurrected, because I was interested to re-read JCarr's comments from 2013.  For me, the take home lesson is that if you choose to economize by engaging the services of an after-market re-tipper for a "boutique" LOMC cartridge, the best course of action is to choose a cantilever material and stylus shape that most closely matches those of the original.  In other words, if you love love love the cartridge and want to preserve its SQ, it is not a good idea to switch from aluminum to sapphire/ruby for the cantilever or from elliptical to OCL for the stylus, even though both sound more "sexy".  (This should seem obvious.) However, if the cartridge in question is not an object of affection, and if you are a gambler, then go ahead and shoot for the moon.  You might re-invent the wheel.

It is my 40+ year habit as a scientist to boil things down to a few easily cathected bits of information.