Allow me to chime in and share my experience with the ruby retip of the Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood.
A few years ago, I purchased a used Clearaudio Emotion turntable with Virtuoso Wood here on Audiogon. Unfortunately, it arrived with a bent cantilever. I too was curious about the ruby cantilever option while researching my options for a rebuild. I chose to give it a try.
After a few months of waiting (they are very busy at Soundsmith and the queue was fairly backed up), I received my Virtuoso with new ruby cantilever and line contact stylus. Initially I was very impressed with the increase in detail. However, over time, I found the sound to be a bit strident. I attempted several times to resolve this by changing alignment and lowering the raking angle, but to no avail.
In the end, I chose to drop back to the standard aluminum cantilever with elliptical stylus. Peter from Soundsmith was very accommodating and understanding of my situation. Upon remounting the new rebuild, I immediately heard the original romantic sound of the Viruoso Wood. It's hard for me to say if Peter's rebuild sounded better than stock because it had been so long since I first heard it. What I can say though, is to be careful when chosing the ruby cantilever option. It may work well with some carts, but I did not like the sound it made when attached to the Virtuoso.
A few years ago, I purchased a used Clearaudio Emotion turntable with Virtuoso Wood here on Audiogon. Unfortunately, it arrived with a bent cantilever. I too was curious about the ruby cantilever option while researching my options for a rebuild. I chose to give it a try.
After a few months of waiting (they are very busy at Soundsmith and the queue was fairly backed up), I received my Virtuoso with new ruby cantilever and line contact stylus. Initially I was very impressed with the increase in detail. However, over time, I found the sound to be a bit strident. I attempted several times to resolve this by changing alignment and lowering the raking angle, but to no avail.
In the end, I chose to drop back to the standard aluminum cantilever with elliptical stylus. Peter from Soundsmith was very accommodating and understanding of my situation. Upon remounting the new rebuild, I immediately heard the original romantic sound of the Viruoso Wood. It's hard for me to say if Peter's rebuild sounded better than stock because it had been so long since I first heard it. What I can say though, is to be careful when chosing the ruby cantilever option. It may work well with some carts, but I did not like the sound it made when attached to the Virtuoso.