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

SS did two amazing jobs for me- a dynavector dv20x2L with new ruby cantilever with stylus and same for an ortofon cadenza blue.  

the dynavector sounded much better, the ortofon slightly worse but still great.  

@lewm 

Thanks for the recommended thread on stylus tips, etc.  That is an excellent discussion on parts and re-tipping cartridges, along with the usual banter amongst contributors.  For reference, here's the link: (I don't know why the copy/paste operation on Audiogon pastes the link in such a large area)

 

SS did work on two cartridges, a Coral 777 which involved a new ruby cantilever and line trace stylus and a Benz Ebony L where only the stylus was replaced.  Work on both was done well.  The Benz sounded great as the stylus was worn.  The bass on the Coral was different sounding and in hindsight I probably should have kept Al as the cantilever material.  Timing and cost were reasonable for both.  I've also used Steve Leung at VAS three times now.  I had ZYX Airy 3x which he inspected, cleaned and repaired, the issue was corrosion on the coils and the suspension needed fixing.  He also inspected and cleaned my Dynavector XV-1s.  On both I thought the stylus needed replacement but it was not the case for both.  More recently I received a Krell KC-100 with a damaged cantilever for some work I did for the previous owner.  Steve replaced the cantilever and stylus, have not heard it yet as I'm in the middle of moving.  For me Steve is easier to reach than SS although the timing and pricing is about the same.

I have heard really good things about VAS Audio. I just sent my Dynavector DRT-XV1T for a new cantilever and tip just last week. Waiting to hear back on cost. This damaged cartridge was a gift so I am not to blame.