Any experience with Sound Smith repairing stylus on non-Sound Smith cartridges?


I was reaching across my Rega P8 turntable with Linn Krystal cartridge (four months old with 250 hours), and the back of my finger hit the stylus, and severely bent / broke the stylus and cantilever, as the stylus is now pointing straight down,and the tip is facing backwards (instead of down).  I was probably going to send the Linn cartridge to Sound Smith for repair.  Has anyone had experience with their various stylus repair options for Linn (or other non-Sound Smith) cartridges?  
Thanks. 

 

drbond

Haven’t listened to that cartridge since it was repaired and returned- stashed in one of those air tight canisters that are apparently popular for other purposes these days. Went to a Koetsu stone body which matches the needs of my system better--bass on the Koetsu (I actually bought two different ones) is more filled out and dimensional in my system, given its strengths and weaknesses.

But to come back to your cartridge, if your cantilever is trashed, Peter will replace that with an assembly which may mean turn around time is shorter. I think it requires more skill to replace just the diamond rather than plug a preassembled stylus cantilever assembly onto the stub of yours.

For what it’s worth, any third party retip will likely change the sound-- and as has been reported here many times, the resale value is reduced compared to a factory rebuild. One other thing-- since I know zip about Linn cartridges-- some brands really don't rebuild, but give you a break on a new unit. I know Koetsu rebuilds, Van den Hul did and may still do so. I think Lyra does not, but haven't gone through that process with them. (I did have an old Parnassus with the platinum magnets which basically got me a new top of the line Lyra at the time b/c Lyra needed those magnets for the Olympus). 

I never planned on reselling the Airtight so that didn’t matter. As for the cost/value, while just replacing the diamond is pricier than plugging in a whole assembly-- it was still a fraction of the cost of the Supreme. So, it made sense to me. At some point, I may put it on my vintage system, but I’m still loving the Koetsu sound, so the Airtight will not be going back on my main system anytime soon.

Steve Leung is very good at these types of repairs too, is fast and reasonably priced. (Not that Peter isn’t, but if the wait time is long, Steve is a good alternative).

You’ll see a lot of negative comments about third party retips generally, but I’m not adverse to the idea, even if it isn’t the "same" when it comes back.

 

 

 

@whart 

Thanks for the input.  I inquired at the shop that I bought the Linn cartridge from, and they seemed to indicate that Linn does not re-tip or repair cartridges. . . I put in an inquiry to Linn factory, but haven't received a response yet.  I'm not concerned about re-sale value, as it's *only* a $2,000 cartridge, and I was planning on a significant upgrade in table and cartridge once I wear this cartridge out, which I may have just done prematurely. . .  

I had them re-tip my Hana SH. The diamond just disintegrated after about 300 hrs. I had them do the Ruby Cantilever / Nude Contact Line Diamond. Great work received it back in 2 weeks. Blows away the original SH. Much better highs, deeper more defined bass. I just love the sound.

I went with the middle of the line just to try their work, very satisfied. Kind if wished I went with the next level.

@drbond , Soundsmith is perfectly capable of doing a SOTA rebuild on just about any cartridge. It is safest to use the same type of stylus the cartridge was supplied with. If you change profiles even going for a more modern one, you can not be quite sure what will happen. If you are going to upgrade in the near future this is certainly the cheapest way to get back to playing records fast.

Linn does not make cartridges at all. Someone else does it for them and brands it as a Linn. Lots of companies do this. whart's Air Tight is actually a MySonicLab creation.