When I posted my sample to Axel he installed an new boron
cantilever and his ''nude Shibata'' instead of this ''remarkable''
ZYX cantilever. Why do you think that this way of installing the
stylus is better than usual? Or, to put this otherwise, why is one
extra tube necessary?
@nandric
I don't know why Nakatsuka-San designed this cantilever instead of using conventional cantilevers from suppliers. Maybe because he designed all the best MC cartridges in the past for brands like Monster Cable etc with conventional Boron cantilevers and after so many years he has found something better ? So many innovations in ZYX cartridges.
When this stylus is wear off the new stylus can't be glued instead. So the whole new cantilever/stylus combo will be needed which is much more expensive than stylus only exchange. Or so I think because of my own experience.
So do you think he made it like that to serve his customers with a new cartridge instead ? The reason is to make in more difficult for re-tippers ? Maybe, i must say his cartridges are very expensive and he's free to choose a business model for him and his brand.
BTW what I admire in Axel's work is his persistence to do his
job. As I wrote in my ''irreparable carts'' thread those glued
together plastic bodies have no ''entrance'' possibility to their
inside parts. How then should an ''retipper'' fix, say, the damping
or the coils of such cart? Axel cut and drilled the body to get
inside. I don't believe other retipper will even try to do this.
BTW he was not able to fix this way my Sony XL 88 D.
This Sony was of the same ''plastic glued together body''.
It is because your personal relations with Axel, hope he's ok ? I think when re-tipper will accept a cartridge like that it will make his job even more expensive, still not guaranteed.
When i read all these i think that taking in count all the risk and expenses on such exotic cartridges it is better to stay away from re-tippers, instead it is more logical to invest in original cartridge (same, next model or different one from another manufacturer).
But i want to ask everybody:
If one must decide between ORIGINAL from the manufacturer and RE-TIPPED/re-furbished cartridge from someone else, which one would you get ?
I think this is the answer for each of us.
Some people just like to mess around with broken stuff.
Regarding cartridges I've learned that many people on audiogon are happy to stick to one cartridge and even when it's broken they would like to invest even more in the dead horse. Some of them paid crazy amount of money to VdH to refurbish MM cartridges!
This is clearly not my philosophy. New or NOS original cartridge, even used original cartridge, is better than refurbished cartridge if this original cartridge is a good one. If it was a bad cartridge then maybe it is possible to upgrade it. This is what i think.
And BTW Peter Ledermann keep telling us in every lecture than MI is better than all those LOMC... and he's the one who refurbished millions of cartridges. Having such unique experience do you believe he's able to design his own perfect cartridge? I think so ... But why then people sending him those broken cartridges from different manufacturers, it is some sort of sect? Stick to one cartridge forever because of what? And when it's Lyra why not just listen to J.Carr's opinion about re-tipping process and the result ? No, they don't want to listen to J.Carr, they want SoundSmith, then why not just buy SoundSmith cartridge if Peter Ledermann always promote MI instead of LOMC ?
And more important: Why people are buying very expensive cartridges if they can't afford manufacturer's service or exchange program? Why ?
