Quite a few years ago I was able to buy 3 or 4 BPS with missing cantilevers. I sent them off to Andy Kim for retip, and he used a higher quality cantilever and diamond than what was OEM. The end result was a very good cartridge for not a lot of money. I sent them off to other owners, and everyone enjoyed them immensely.
I suspect that the current BPS EVO is really the same generator as the Blackbird. Get one retipped with a boron cantilever, and a LC stylus and you will have a improved version of the Blackbird. Just my own guess of course, got no proof of this.
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If I could find my BPS, I’d break it. But I can’t be bothered to look for it, even with nothing else to do.
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Breakage can only improve the sound of that little screecher... |
Some topics are simply timeless.
Keep those dust rags, unbuttoned long sleeves and 2+ drink hands away from the table!
We still have plenty of time to go thru our collection. Dear leader and your local government may have different plans though?
I'm having a fabulous time revisiting everyone from Vivaldi to ZZ Top. |
Wow... old thread, but add me to the list... I was just rediscovering my 15 yr old BPS, and unknowingly snagged it with a cleaning rag today. I have 2 more expensive carts, but they are lower output, and I was quite enjoying this totally hiss free Hi Output MC. I'm beside myself on buying another similar Sumiko......
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Friends! There is another opportunity to break a BPS if you buy the one listed for $150 today in the classifieds. I'm considering it, but the fear has come over me and my hands are already shaking. |
I had 3 BPS in a row installed by the dealer which failed for no reason. The dealer dropped the line because of it. |
just like "bozo" above i've sheared two in my lifetime...one was done after one too many quaffs of cerveza (i'd say my reaction time from actually shearing the thing and my recognition of the disaster was roughly about five seconds...as in, no i didn't just do what i think i just did, did i?!)the cleaning lady broke the next one. sometimes it's a tough, cruel world out there.
gregg |
I belong to this club, too...
I recently bought a turntable and decided not to get a SBP immediately. I have been five years out of the hobby, so I bought a Grado Prestige Blue to play around and get used to installing and handling cartridges. I'm glad I did. |
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Dickens, the price was $~100 incl shipping. I got a $200 credit towards the purchase of the Clearaudio Discovery ($+2000, retail) a year ago. |
Gregm, How many "frog-pelts is it setting you back for each retipping. The reason I ask is I just got off the phone with Jim Alexander at Sumiko in Bezerkeley, CA. and he informed me that they do not retipp-em but most of the online dealers (The Needle Doctor?) will give a $85.00 core credit on the purchase of a new one. FYI the suggested retail is now up to $349.00
It might be a good idea for the rest of you considering sharing a nightmare story to refrain. I fear we just might be giving to much ammo to the CD tribe. |
Seems I hold the B-BPS record (to-date). TWO cartrigdes, retipped 3x each. Became a regular chez V den Hul retipping services. Started out, as a self-respecting audiophile, yanking the cantilever while dusting the TT (hi-level resolution is infinitely improved when you remove dust, and the cantilever along with it).
At the end of the third cantilever bending of the 2nd cartridge, I decided to service the BPS myself -- by applying super glue. V den Hul's comment to the dealer (yes, back there again) "someone applied crazy glue to the cartridge. Your have crazy clients??"
Before starting the post I had to go check on my (new) Discovery -- it was still there.
I'll check again now that I'm finished. |
My my my, In a perverse way I am comforted by the number of responses to my confession of klutzism. I guess I'm not all that rare a bird after all. Sorry to hear about each of your mishaps. The price we pay for our "big black CD's" is steep indeed.
"big black CD" is how my golfing friends 4 year old described our beloved vinyl when he saw it for the very first time at my house two weeks ago.
Thanks all and good listening. |
I have not broken a Blue Point Special, but I managed to destroy a brand new Benz Glider, which is also a "naked" cartridge, in january. I sent it to Benz in Switzerland for retipping at half the price of a new cartridge, and am still waiting to get it back. There is a 14-week delay on retipping these cartridges; do you get the impression there are many, many ham-fisted audiophiles buying (and having to retip) naked cartridges these days? Oh, by the way, I also managed to drop a brand new Sumiko Project turntable BEFORE I destroyed the Glider; the tonearm snapped off and the spindle bent. It was replaced by Sumiko for a repair cost of only $220. I went back to using my Linn and 10-yr-old van den Hul MM-1, which has a body and which I have never broken. But I guess it's only a matter of time. I wonder if I will somehow manage to turn my whole stand over next time? |
I have had similar experiences in the past with the Stylus for the Shure V15VxMR |
Well, I haven't broken my BPS on my Project Perspective turntable and sometimes I don't know why. This cartridge on this turntable hangs out like an "ON" switch waiting to be flicked on. But this cartridge is well worth the risk. I received my turntable from HCM Audio with the cartridge installed. Harry at HCM devised a cool little protective shell to keep on while I got the turntable set up. And Harry is one heck of a nice guy. Well worth doing business with. Hearing these other poor souls speak of breaking these priceless jewels, it breaks my heart. And I will tell you, for the money, you would have to pay considerably more to reach a notch above the BPS. it just isn't worth it!Maybe someday, if I decide to upgrade to a $4,000 or $5,000 turntable, then maybe I will change my mind. But I still only have 25 albums that I consider worth listening to until I get my lunch money saved up again. With the way the new albums sound today, it is not even worth listening to 10 and 20 year old albums. Maybe it was the garage spiders? Maybe it was working around jet aircraft? |
I thought I was the only dummy that trashed cartridges due to my hamfisted dexterity! After killing the Blue Point Special many years ago, I happened upon a NOS Shure Ultra 500. You Know what? The Shure even sounded better(to me, in my system) So, I figure that since I will forever suffer to exist within the price constraints of products like the BPS, and the Shure is better, AND has a replacable stylus, I'll just stick with the Shure and stop searching for the elusive "best" sub $500. cartridge! |
Busted my BPS exactly the same way installing it on my Oracle Delphi a few years back. Tried to install a Grado on my Oracle Alexandria, busted the tonearm wires, cost me $400 to get the arm re-wired. I now use the Grado Reference series on my 'tables, the wooden body is pre-threaded and makes it easy for even a complete klutz like me to install pickups without costing myself thousands of dollars and lots of down time waiting. Jeff |
Oh I got you all beat by a big margin, A Big Margin, beat by big margin! I have trashed three times a Benz Reference, once after a day of owning it, and twice since then! You would think I would move to digital. No F###### Way!!!!!! I have since had it retipped by van den hul and it is great. So I figure I have about 4000.00 tied up in this cartridge. OUCH! Oh by the way the biggest pain in the butt in this world is Garth at Musical Surroundings. Is this guy a pain or what! I went to van den hul because Garth is a pain!!! |
I broke one and my cleaning lady broke the replacement. I no longer own BPS. |
My wife accidently took the stylus off of my BPS while she was dusting my turntable. A replacement is about$195. She feels bad about this. I do not blame her for this at all. I feel if I cleaned the turntable as often as she has, perhaps I would have done the same. |
Listen; you're lucky / this is not an expensive cartridge. I've had the "grace" to break the canteliver on 2 over 1200 cartridges---New,while installing them. The retipping charge was 50 percent of new price and a 6 week wait.Not sure why God gave me 10 thumbs. |
