Soundsmith re-tips received today

Some time ago I had a cartridge with the cheapest Soundsmith update - $150,-- - and I was really impressed about it. An excellent example for doing a great job in this overpriced business.

I think your moniker says it all, "Just listen".

I have had a half dozen or so cartridges retipped by Peter and all of them are superb! I choose the $250 level service on all of them. Highly recommended.

Justlisten,

Which level of rebuild did you choose for the AQ7000? AQ 7000 remains one of my all time favorites and I also got one that needs to be rebuilt.

I'd appreciate your reply

Dear Justlisten: That's almost normal with re-tipped cartridges.

A new cartridge that has no single playing hour must to settle down especialy in the cartridge suspension before could shines. In a re-tipped one that cartridge suspension is already broke-in and fine tunned for the re-tipper.

The VdH service in its Colibri cartridges is a good example about. They give us a cartridge fine tunning after three months of playing ( the service is free and we only pay the shipping both ways. ) and what they do most than all is to fine tunning the cartridge suspension.

In one of my Colibri's I bented the cantilever not one but in four different times and each time the cartridge was re-tipped sounded great at the very first track played in the LP.

Now, a re-tipped cartridge that was re-tipped for a " universal " retipper source other than the cartridge manufacturer loosed its original performance level. The re-tipped cartridge is a different one, that could like us more than the original is only a result that we are hearing a different cartridge. This is like when we hear a new cartridge that like us more than our current one in the audio system but many times that " I like it more than the other cartridge I own or owned " is only a different " flavor " and not a real best flavor.

Anyway, all these is my take about.

regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Hi Raul

That makes a lot of sense....that there would be little break in period on a retip.

Opus, I just told Soundsmith to do whatever would sound best no matter the cost. This is what he suggested and I did with the Audioquest

Update on RA12412 - status: Your cartridge has been received.-Please allow 10-12wks for rebuild. The suspension appears ok, the stylus should be replaced while keeping the original boron cantilever. I would suggest our \"retip only\" option and get the CL stylus for $350.00. Please advise. Thank you, paid: ,
Price breakdown:

I bough a new Soundsmith AIDA cartridge from Mr Peter
Letterman, and I was surprise to find out that if
there was any questions in regard to the sound of the
cartridge he would personally contact the costumer to make sure that you was happy with sound of the cartridge. This is far and beyond what I spected.

A very very happy costumer. I forget to mention that my AIDA replaced the Clearaudio Maestro, the AIDA is a killer it is as simple as that.

I bough a new Soundsmith AIDA cartridge from Mr Peter
Letterman, and I was surprise to find out that if
there was any questions in regard to the sound of the
cartridge he would personally contact the costumer to make sure that you was happy with sound of the cartridge. This is far and beyond what I spected.

A very very happy costumer. I forget to mention that my AIDA replaced the Clearaudio Maestro, the AIDA is a killer it is as simple as that.

I'm also very happy customer , and also well over 60 like you guys and bright, tipped up carts are blessing . With SS carts I don't even have to use my hearing aid most of the time ...

I just received my Grace Ruby with the select LC stylus and new ruby cantilever, from SoundSmith. I am anxious to get it up and running.

My experience is the same as Syntax. Peter has re-tipped my Sound-Smith Zephyr 2 times for the right price. It's a killer combo on my VPI Classic.

I was having difficulty diagnosing a problem in my vinyl playback chain and sent my ATOC9MLII to Peter to see if anything was amiss. He inspected it, cleaned it, mounted it and played it to evaluate the sound quality. Turned out it was fine and the problem was elsewhere. Didn't charge me a dime for the service and peace of mind. All I can say is that when the AT gives up the ghost I'll be buying a cartridge from Peter. I'm actually thinking of the Aida--any of you guys using that in a VPI Scout JMW9?

Dodgealum,

I had an Aida, the wood version, on a Scout a few years ago. It was bought brand new, but the cantilever was slightly skewed in one direction. The Aida was outstanding with jazz and acoustic music, also thought exhibited a sibilance problem with male vocals, and didn't really rock with rock music. However, this was before I knew anything about cartridge setup. The cartridge was set up by the dealer who reversed two of the lead wires to begin with. So it is possible that the Aida was never set up optimally, plus that skewed cantilever. Since then I've also upgraded my entire system, including moving up to the Lyra Delos which shines with everything you throw at it so my feedback might not be perfectly accurate. Nevertheless, I believe the Aida went up in price and is about a grand now. If I was getting a SS cartridge now, I'd probably go for the Zephyr that seems to be getting thumbs up from everyone who has it, and it matches well with VPI tonearms. My two cents.