The cart producers get the whole cantilever/stylus combo from their supplier. The so called 'retip' is usually a simple substitution of this combo. The 'real retip' by which a new stylus is glued in the existing cantilever seems to be much more difficult job to do. So the solution of the 'stylus problem' is obvious. To 'virtually rebuild the cartridge' and ask unreasonable price make no sense to me. If one need to change the tyre one will rarely rebuild the whole car because of the tyre. No wonder the most of us use repair cervices like Ledermann , Axel Schurholz, Van den Hul, etc.
Fremer's review of the Anna cartridge
Fremer reviews the $8499 cartridge very positively, but it takes three different samples of the cartridge for him to get there. The first sample exhibited "an incompatibility between the adhesives used and the elastomer of which the cartridge's damper is made." Fremer notes "[e]vidently, however, this problem didn't affect every Anna that left the factory." Wow, what a relief. In the second sample, apparently "some the glue that secures the stylus in the cantilever had dripped." The third sample, after 100 hrs of break-in finally delivered. Fremer suggests buying and using an USB microscope as part of the cartridge buying process.
Does anyone else think this is absolutely nuts? It seems to me, at this price level, every single cartridge should be absolutely perfect. Haven't Ortofon heard of quality control? This also applies to Lyra whose $9500 Atlas cartridge had the stylus affixed to the cantilever at an angle that made it virtually impossible to get the SRA of 92 degrees.
Does anyone else think this is absolutely nuts? It seems to me, at this price level, every single cartridge should be absolutely perfect. Haven't Ortofon heard of quality control? This also applies to Lyra whose $9500 Atlas cartridge had the stylus affixed to the cantilever at an angle that made it virtually impossible to get the SRA of 92 degrees.