The nightmare of the cartridge buyer...


I recently completed a several year quest to acquire a new cartridge. This quest was basically a major PITA and a nightmare!

Why? Well let’s take a look at what will be in store for all cartridge buyers’ in the US...and possibly other countries as well..IF they are seeking a top flite cartridge , like I was.

Firstly, and here’s where a big part of the problem lies: You will typically be unable to audition any cartridge under consideration...certainly not in your own home and more often than not, at your dealers either.

Then we have the fact that these products are closely monitored for who and whom can act as a dealer...which is then severally restricted by territory and distribution. We then add that the pricing is very well controlled...CAN WE SAY PRICE FIXING...which in most states is an illegal practice...but seems to be the rule here.


Let’s begin with my story...and then I am hoping that members will chime in here with their thoughts and probably also their own ’horror stories’....

About three years ago, I decided to acquire a cartridge that would replace my aging but still ok Benz Ruby 2...
I wanted a cartridge that would surpass that Benz in most areas...and one that would be priced at about $3-$5K. A lot of money to be spending on this piece of gear...or so I believed.

At the time, I was considering the following models....Benz LPS MR, Koetsu Urushi and Rosewood Platinum and the Lyra Kleos, Delos, a EMT, the Kiseki Purpleheart, Air Tight ( entry level model at the time..cannot remember what it was called) an Ortofon A90--and a Transfiguration Proteus--lastly one of the ZYX models. After some research, i discovered that the Ortofon’s, the Zyx’s and the Transfigurations wouldn’t work with my set up --due to too low an output by the respective cartridges for my all tube phono stage. So this left the Kiseki, the Koetsu’s, the Lyra’s and the Benz’s...and possibly the Air Tight model.

Circumstances changed and my cartridge buying escapade was put on hold...until a few months back. In the few years since my last foray, I find out that Benz have basically gone out of business ( again!!) and so has Transfiguration. Meanwhile, the Van Den Hul line has come into the US again...this time with a new distributor.
The Zyx line has totally been updated and the Lyra line is now more available than before...at least in theory. The Koetsu are now handled by Music Direct...who have essentially doubled the pricing across the board! Oh, i forgot, the Lyra line has increased by about 25% across the board ( i don’t think inflation can account for this!!)
So where to start auditioning --the answer...nowhere!
Instead I am supposed to rely on various dealers enthusiastic recommendation for these products...except for the fact that one dealer tells me that Koetsu’s are the best thing since mothers milk- and the other tells me that Koetsu’s are horrible with all the faults under the sun...( at least the ones that are in my budget..see above!) Can I hear any of these for myself...either in my system, or at the respective dealers...heck NO! ( and don’t think this type of scenario/ behavior isn’t consistent for other brands as well!--irrespective of whether the dealer(s) carries said brand or not!).

Here I am left with the choice of dropping several thousand dollars on a product that a) has no ability to be heard in my own system..therefore having no clue as to the results that I will get, b) has absolutely no return policy c) can be easily damaged by myself or others in the case of incorrect mounting to the tonearm...and lastly...and this is the one that really annoys me the most: I must shop for these products at a very limited amount of vendors who all are naysaying their competitors and acting extremely unprofessionally in the process. ( Do i really have to talk to the prospective rep for the line in order to determine the compatibility of the cartridge under question with my arm, the reasoning behind the asked price, where the dealer is that should be selling me the piece in question ( so as not to cross territorial lines) and on and on!!)

Then we have this little bonbon...The damn Japanese sourced cartridge(s) is available on several Japanese web sites at a price that is usually 50 -60% of the retail price here in the USA!! And that price in Japan is still at FULL RETAIL! ( Yes, I know it cost a ton of money to ship these things from Japan to here ( since they weigh a ton), LOL).

Where does this leave the US consumer in regards to the acquisition of a top flite cartridge...IMO the answer is between a hard place and a rock..You either pay through the nose and get totally ripped off by the likes of Music Direct and the various small independent reps in the US for these cartridges, or you takes your choice and risk buying from a grey market vendor abroad...but at a fraction of the price! BTW, mysteriously most of the top flite Benz cartridges continue to be very available from a vendor in China who seems to have cornered the market?? What’s up with this??

I can go on and about this journey, as I have just began to scratch the top of the heap in this story, but let’s hear from you guys as to your experiences and thoughts.... Was your top flite  cartridge acquisition an equal nightmare, or was it something else?






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@elizabeth

I have an original still good Dynavector Ruby 23.. Gee $2000?


Paid about $600 for NOS Dyna 23RS Super with MicroReach stylus (they call it Reach, not Ridge) on ebay this summer. Amazing cartridge, will blown away many $2k carts
Simple. Support Soundsmith. USA made and sound superb. I recently purchased the Star II and it blows away the ZYX I have and cost almost half $. 
I'm in the thousand dollar or less crowd, I own an Ortofon 2M black they sell for 8-9 hundred dollars. I listened to a lot of MC carts but felt the black gave me more of what I wanted to hear at a price of thousands less. 
I'm glad to find that there are other Accuphase aficionados here.  I haven't heard the AC-3 so can't comment, but in no way would I describe the AC-2 as anything but neutral in both transient response and frequency response. 

Since I've started using Hi-Fi Shark I've been exposed to trading forums around the world and I have been a bit startled to see how many AC-1s and AC-2s are bought, sold, and traded in the Asian countries, with Japan leading the way.  Harry Pearson liked the AC-2 but by that point much more so with the more expensive but more colored cartridges.  So the AC-2 never became "big" here as it did in Asia.  And to the best of my knowledge neither the AC-1 or AC-3 were ever imported here.
Chakster - I use a 12 year old Benz Ruby 3.  Is that considered a vintage cartridge today?  

I had a Dynavector Ruby 23r back in its day.  It was both relatively neutral and erred on the warm side (but I really liked it).  Then I got the original Karat 17 which was really, really fast sounding but less involving and bright (I've been told today's Karat 17x3 is superior).  My Ruby 23r stylus wore out back in the late 80s or early 90s.

Van den Hul claims 3500 hours for his longer lasting styluses. Ortofon claims 2000 hours (except for the Cadenza Bronze where somewhere I read 3000 hours for clean playing condition & pristine LP condition leads to excess playing hours). 

I have been playing my LPs using an SME IV modified with cartridges in the medium compliance range which is mated to the arm.  With correct installation parameters, my Benz Ruby 3 is lasting longer than any of my previous cartridges (of course smog killed/hardened internal parts of many Dynavectors in the 70's and 80s after only 3 years each).  Even the earliest Lyra cartridge I owned back in the 1999 to 2006 lasted maybe 1800 hours.