Replicant 100 stylus

The VDH / Gyger Collaboration has been discovered in the Web Search available information, when an investigation in to Stylus Types is undertaken.

There will also be information discovered if a Web Search is carried out, that claims a certain Gyger Stylus Form is made up from very similar dimensions od the Ortofon Replicant 100, or vice-versa, hence the Gyger Stylus referred to, is seen as a retip on certain Ortofon MC's, as Ortofon would not make the Replicant 100 available for such MC Models.   

These Stylus Forms are again attached, most commonly to the Cartridges that are entered to the Market at a Certain Price Level, and it is these select parts in the assembly that are seen to be instrumental in the MC Model being Sonically Superior to lesser models. Projected Lower Volumes of Sales for these models dictates the Inflated Marketing Price.

The Buyer of such a luxurious item, and not only limited to Cartridges, will justify the Purchase, by adding to the Sales Spiel, and furthering the fantastical descriptions on offer, to bolster explaining their decision made to purchase.   

What really matters when the Smog of Fantastical Spiel Lifts, is whether the Stylus can offer many hours of service prior to becoming noticeably compromised.

A £3000 - £5000 MC Cart' with exotic Stylus only performing for approx' 300 Hours prior to the Stylus condition being recognised as being deteriorated to the point of impacting on the Sound Quality- Ouch - and a WTF Ouch to follow. The raised Smog of Fantastical Spiel around a Certain Type of Cartridge does not usually extend to making such a discomforting experience made known.

I have no intention of making the Cart's I know off, made known, I say such a statement, because a Cartridge offering a projected replay period at approx' £3.00 - £5.00 per Album being replayed, can actually be £10.00 - £17.00 per Album replayed, as well as a costly 'retip' to follow, and in some cases, a very long wait for the Cartridge to be returned.

Again it is very much down to the Purchaser to forget the fantastical spiel, leave it alone and wipe all thoughts from that book clean, and to seek out information that shows the Purchase Price for a Certain MC Model, is for a Model that is proven to offer the longevity of service the Buyer is expecting.

If such an information is not confirmed by the Purchaser, then a very expensive incremental cost to a replay can be incurred.     

  

 

When it comes to ESC offering their Stylus, whether it be a same form as a Replicant 100, how the two Parts are perceived by the Purchaser will be dependant on the Sales Spiel that is attached to the part when used in an assembly.

When it comes to Ortofon, it will be offered with the noise attached that it is the finest diamond in the world, what ever that means.

I have never pursued any knowledge of the Paratrace as a Styli, as it is a stylus that can be found with reports of short life expectancy, and for myself this is an unwanted experience to be met with.

With Styli there is a great wealth of information that should show the unique form of the part. They are usually shown with their shape as the side wall dimensions are shown, Square or Rectangular can be determined, the length is made known, but this can be altered ? and the uM and Conical or Elliptical is known.

With having access to this information for the Styli, it will be very possible to determine how accurate each one is to another a match, the math will answer the queries.

Does 0.01mm on a Side Wall Dimension, or 0.5uM Tip Size/Radius, allow for a different Patent for a Design to be produced ?? 

The FGS and Gyger I, are two styli, that can be found with user recommendation to offer an extended service life, and maybe this is also part of the attraction to customers doing their research.

Then there is the common theme seen across most forums where Vinyl is being discussed, the more the Styli is able to gain access into the Groove, the more the skill set is required from the user to optimise the set up, and the time is required to achieve this and the constant tweaking of the Tonearm is not a task all want to be subjected to, so a Conical Tip might be a preferred Shape for this very reason.       

@mijostyn My 'on the sauce' moments is fuelled by off the shelve products, no need to use illegal substances, fortunately for myself, caffeine based beverages is ample to get the party going.

I have not any recollection from any input from yourself on this subject, and I have read many individuals accounts over a long period of time. It is hard to determine where you are in your comprehension of this subject and if the subject of Styli Forms is something that you are quite serious about.

To help you understand my place that I am with this subject, a Styli is a Material that is hard wearing and has become the preferred material over other Jewels used in times past. More importantly it is a interface between two materials, and contaminants that might be present on the surfaces of the interface materials.

There are Jewels designed to have a form that are mechanically more suitable than other forms at this interface.

These forms of Jewels are produced mainly as an item offered by a Brand and are selected to be supplied at different levels of purchase value. The Sales Spiel offered to the Consumer is usually the information that will indicate where a Part offered fits into the Production Companies Pricing Range. Customers who receive  of such Parts, especially those who produce a Cartridge Range will be quick to add their own Sales Spiel to a already supplied Sales Spiel from a Producer, and hence the fantastical descriptions commence.

The 'merry go round' evolves to their being a Cartridge offered, of which there will hopefully be many, to make the product a worthwhile venture. This results in multiple Customers and Users of the Produced Cartridge, of which many will publically make their assessments known, with information supplied as a result of subjective description, combined with historical recollected information from the Sales Spiel, this can quite easily turn into a description that does not mirror the supplied information from another's assessment. 

Hence the suggestion I am keen to make, that is to attempt to experience the device in advance of purchase, or definitely speak directly with somebody totally qualified through a broad experience of carrying out assessments on differing assemblies of parts, to help with the decision being made. 

I will not discuss dyslexia to any in depth extent in a Styli Thread, as it is a condition that is widely misunderstood and is commonly the root cause of much anxiety being incurred for those that are afflicted with it.

If one is not genuine in their report of having the condition, using the terminology, in a very public disclosure, as being afflicted with the condition of dyslexia, to describe a misunderstanding of a written description, is a below the belt punch, and not helpful to the individuals who live daily with the condition.

If the condition is genuine, and there has been a Important Word not included in my previous Post, the following will correct the sentence used, 

'To help you understand my place that I am at with this subject, a Styli is a Material that is hard wearing and Diamond has become the preferred material over other Jewels used in times past ' . 

I am a sceptic on the matter of a Stylus Form, especially wary/aloof of the Sales Spiel, that is associated with the Styli Form and a Brands willingness to claiming the extraordinary capabilities of a particular Styli Form.

From experience there is a much improved Cartridge Performance to be had when the mechanical interface materials are selected for the qualities they can add to the function of the Cartridge.

Not too far back, I compared Four Cartridges within one system on the same Tonearm and Head shells. Three Cart's were the same models, of which of the Cart's had undergone rebuilds using different Spec Materials from other Cart's offered from the Brand, and one Cart' had a FGS Styli added and was recently overhauled. The Styli on these Three Cart's are a FG 80, FGS and Ogura Vital+S. 

The Fourth Cart' was from the same Brand and Production era as the others in the line up, but was a production variant of the three Cart's. This Cart was also rebuilt, using parts belonging to another Model from the same Brand, which was a model that was at one time the Top of the Range model. This Cart' had a FGS Styli.

The Cart's had from recollection an approx' usage of between 50 - 200 Hours on the differing models. 

After hearing the four Cart's, the Three attendees during discussion could not distinguish how much a Styli was seen to contribute to the noticeable differences in Sound Quality a Cart was able to create.

The basic assessment was such that the Brands Standard Cart' was the inferior performer on the day, and the Variant Model with the New Parts within, was noticeably the one with the most attractors over all the Cart's in the Line Up. 

The owner of the Variant Cart' today owns the same Model that the Cart's rebuild donor parts belonged to,  and is using the Replicant 100 styli, in regular communications and listening experiences of this Cart' the owner is not feeling the need to consider the FGS as an alternative styli.      

@rauliruegas Happy New Year to You

In your reply that references a Post made by myself, it seems your reply does not reflect my added information that was subsequently posted when @mijostyn pointed out the Hardness of Diamond in comparison to other Jewels, which I assume was @mijostyn  pointing out a information deficiency in a Post I had made, which did not cover this information, even though the intention by myself was to cover it, I was quick to correct the sentence in the follow up post produced.

@rauliruegas  Your reply does not reflect the Subject of the Thread.

The Thread is a general inquiry about the form of a Styli, and whether the same Styli forms are available from different suppliers where the name given to the part is different, and Styli dimensions and Tip Shape is not shown, to be able to make a fair assessment of all the similarities between the parts.

The information about designers Top Choice as being Cantilevers produced from Boron and Diamond, is far removed from the subject of the thread and it is possible that the claim is not absolutely correct, I would say that the Miyajima designers would have a challenge to this theory, and I would assume Soundsmith also challenge this theory to, as either in their designs would also add the organic materials of Madake Bamboo and Cactus Spine to the list of Top Choice.

The suggestion about the use of Diamond Styli is undoubtedly the most commonly seen. I am not qualified in any way to suggest that a Natural Diamond used to form a Styli is a improved option over using a Styli formed from a synthetic produced diamond, but that is a topic far is seemingly far removed from the subject of the thread.   

I am quite restricted to encountering experiences of demonstrations of Cart's where the Styli Form is being assessed. I am intrigued by this very interesting subject and it is undoubtedly a subject I have an interest in, to the point where I have been active in comparing a small selection of Differing Stylus Forms.

As made known previously, I have been instrumental in arranging for a demonstration to be put in place, and set up a Demonstration that was heading towards a useful analysis, where different Brands and Styli Forms on Similar designed Carts were placed in a line up for demonstrations.

Where Four Cart's were made available and Three were the same model, but one of the Three has a different Cantilever Material and Different Brand Styli. The other Cart's have the same Cantilever Material, but Two have the same Brand Styli Model and the other has a Styli from the same brand as the former, but a different model. 

It would be reasonably fair to say all the Styli to be demonstrated are in the Manufacturers Sales Spiel, within the items that are considered to be offerings from their Top of the Range listings.

The Demonstration was carried out in a reasonably controlled manner, i.e, on a system where all attendees were familiarised with it over many years of visits to the home of the system owner, and all demonstrations Cart's were pre mounted onto a identical Headshell and used on the same TT > Tonearm. The exchange period of time taken for Three Cart's was the same for each one and required only about a minute in time as the Cart's are same models and the Tracking Weight is identical. One Cart' was an incremental amount heavier and required a tracking weight tweak, resulting in approx' a Two- Three Minute exchange time. This fast exchange time ensured that the recollection of the previous replay was able to be used for the comparison and assessment during the follow on demonstrations.

As there were Two of the same Brands Styli Model and One other Styli from the same Brand of the former, the effect of the Styli on a replay was suggested to be a consideration to be assessed when listening, i.e surface noise, and whether any comparatively noticeable changes to the information retrieval was being detected. 

As said previously, not one attendee was able to say with conviction that they felt the Styli was solely responsible for the noticeable differences in the SQ and Performance on offer from a Cart'.

The discussions concluded with an agreement that leaned toward,  the known differences about the methods used for the assembly of the Cart's, was most likely the reason why the Model used in the Standard Form, which was also the Model with most hours of usage of approx 200 Hrs, was the one showing the least attractors and the model with the rebuild to the New High Spec' Parts and approx' 100 Hrs of usage was showing the most attractors. The Cart' that was closest in similarities in performance to the Standard Spec' Cart' was the Model with a FGS Styli that had been overhauled, with approx 50 Hrs of usage, it was agreed that this was only marginally improved over the Standard Spec Cart', I recollect it being suggested that it was a worthy method to carry out as a Retip for the Standard Cart', when the Cart' was met with its time of noticeable demise. 

The Cart' with the Differing Cantilever and Different Brand Styl and had new internal parts used during the rebuild, with approx' 100 Hrs of usage, was extremely close in performance to the overall preferred Cart', it matched the high frequency performance, projected a little further in the mid's and was noticeably not as prominent in the delivery of the Bass, but this was also suggested to be due to the low user hours on the new suspension and damper in use, and may improve over time, which was proved to be the case, as later comparisons between the Two Cart's had shown the differences were marginal in the Bass and the differences in the mid's projection was still noticeable. 

I would not feel comfortable suggesting that the Styli Form is solely responsible for the detection that the projection of the mid range frequencies is noticeably more prominent between the Two Cart's being compared. 

     

In relation to the previous posts produced by myself in this thread.

It is predicted by the owner / user of the Cartridge with the Replicant 100 that the Cart’ will have received approx’ 100 Hrs of usage during the Month of February.

From the Cartridges used in the last comparison there are Two still available to be used offered for use for a Comparative Assessment during another arranged demonstration for the Spring Time.

The Three Cart’s used if all goes to plan be from Models produced by the the same Brand.

The Longest owned Cart’ that to be used is the Standard Model with an FG Stylus remains with only approx’ 200 Hrs usage on it. The second longest owned Cart’ is the same as the above model, but has been rebuilt and has a different Styli and cantilever material, this Cart’ now has more than 300 Hrs usage.

The Cart of real interest to be offered for the demonstration and compared to is the shortest owned Cart of the Three, I have been listening to its performance when at approx’ 20-30 Hours usage, it is yet to have over 100 Hrs usage, I look forward to revisiting it with a extended usage behind it. The Cart’ has the Replicant 100 Styli, the ’specially selected Super Fine Polished version’ according to the sales spiel.

I’m not sure what to expect from this upcoming experience as there are three different cantilever materials and Three Different Brands Styli, even though each Styli will be seen to be from a Brands Top of the Range in the product listing.

Most importantly the meetings and demonstrations are social get together’s, with short periods of time taken out for assessing the performance from a demonstration.

All evaluations are subjective and produced by individuals whose qualification is a willingness to travel to encounter new experiences, as well as a long time maintained use of the Vinyl Medium, and the interest in learning the most valuable method to be used for extracting the information embedded within the LP pressing.

That is the extent of my interest as well, even though I do believe I have learned some very useful lessons from the demonstrations offered.

 

In summary I have compared Styli from similar schools of design philosophy against another Style with a noticeably different form and different design philosophy and was not too influenced along with others that were present at the thought that the Styli in use were contributing significantly to the detected differences in a Cart's performance.

There is another opportunity in the not too distant future to do similar methods of comparisons, but have a Replicant 100, the ’specially selected Super Fine Polished version’ according to the sales spiel, as the Styli with a difference to the other used in the former demonstrations.      

The Cart' Comparisons are not only reserved for the assessment of Styli, they are assessed to see how they compare to each other in the overall performance and what technology might be responsible for defining any differences that was noticed. It was only on the last occasion that the Styli were suggested to be included to see if a styli could be detected for having an influence, as there were Styli of the same Brand and Form used on two Cart's in the demonstration line up.

There are FG Styli available if one looks into work carried out by Cartridge 'retip' services, the Brand is being used. The same can be said for Two of the Cart's to be used in the upcoming line up, as they are not made any more and one of these is a bespoke rebuilt version, in the previous demonstration comparison session, not one of the Cart's in the line up was being produced when this took place.

My descriptions are offered on this matter only to inform that the attendees at a demonstration did not suggest and encourage the analysis to lean toward, that a Styli only was responsible for the performance differences being detected. It was felt that the overall assembly of the Cart' was most likely responsible.

Experiences such the above reinforce my own thoughts that it is prudent to be wary / aloof of the Sales Spiel attached to certain components used in an assembly.

I don't think I will be looking into seeing if a arrangement can be made for a comparison between a Ultra Fine Replicant 100 and the later version with the description as being the extra polished Ortofon Replicant 100, I could not even think where the improvement might be found in the extra polished version, but it does stand out in the Increased Font Size - Bold Text used in the Brochure containing the Sales Spiel.

 

@rauliruegas as your direction of your very personal opinion, on a persons low levels of knowledge is very vague in determining who it was directed at, and at present, from my vantage point, it is looking like @mijostyn took the brunt of it.

I am very happy to declare ’I have  low knowledge levels’ when it comes to the most important design concerns for any product. I keep my knowledge levels limited by the end user, to allow for correct usage and learn what is required to make the product function, i.e, an item being, Passive, Key Wind Up, Battery, or Mains Powered Electricity.

The next once the above is properly understood, is considering how much input is required from myself to achieve the best function from the item selected to be used.

In the most basic periods of learning, I have come to understand it is best practice when I ’Don’t put the Electric Toaster powered by ( Mains Electric Power ) on a Maximum Time Setting and think it can be left unattended’, such a practice will be heeded when the Smoke Alarm ( Battery Power Supply and Strategically Placed as per manufacturers guidelines ) starts to function as designed. Not setting of the Smoke Alarm is also quite important for another reason, one of our Dogs has severe reaction to the alarm and it is not nice to a loved pet traumatised and the prolonged condition remains when the alarm is audible function of the alarm stopped.

In my case any my case only, I do declare that my low level of knowledge did enable the above experience to be encountered, but at the same time my low levels of knowledge have also allowed preventative measures to be put into action and there have been no reoccurrences.

A request can be put to myself for information about how devices have design concerns attached to them that need to be considered, and where asking for my understanding of these design considerations to be offered will be futile, as I can go on in the pretence that I am with knowledge, but this is not myself, I might comment, but not at any time would I reassure a person I am right with any information offered, it is not my skill set. I definitely would not pretend I had more knowledge than I have when it comes to HiFi and especially within the Sub Category of Analogue Replays. From my experiences within this forum, I think this is probably the case of nearly every contributor, who post within the raised threads in the analogue section of this forum, but I do suspect there are a few who do comment within the raised threads under the pretence that their knowledge is the most important consideration to be adopted, and then there is the very few forum members, that are quite odd in their individuality, who appear to avoid the subject content of the thread and add a contribution that it is difficult not to class as utterly rude toward another contributor to the subject within the thread.

Putting a focus on my low levels of knowledge into the world of the Phono Cartridge and then to the Sub Category of Phono Cartridges, such as a MC Phono Cartridge, both myself and a vast amount of users of these devices, have over time and from expressing an continued interest, have come to understand how to attach the device to a Headshell/Tonearm.

There are many including myself, who have learned the art of extracting the best from the device, by using specific geometries when setting the Interface between the device and supporting ancillaries. Through taking the time out to read the supplied information from the Producer about the Cartridge, the Cartridge end user can become versed in quoting a proportion of the Materials used for the Cart’s assembly and if a Cart’s is produced with the latest cutting edge technology available to the Brand for their design.

That unfortunately is low knowledge, it is a generalisation of the product, it does not incorporate any of the concealed IP around the Cartridge Design, that is the manufacturers concern only.

For a person like myself, does knowing the IP about the Cart’ make it any better a experience, for myself it is a no. Does knowing a description of the IP about a product and being able to comprehend it make me an authority with information that supersedes another’s shared experience with the same product, In my view definitely no.

I am interested only in how endearing the Performance of the Cart’ is to my unique preferences for a SQ and Sonic Signature presented within my system.

So I openly declare with all the above being followed by myself, I remain low in knowledge, but remain an individual with an inquisitive nature, and one who will happily converse with individuals who are very skilled with a Phono Cartridge Design, as well as being an individual who has historically had access to a unlimited introduction to a Producers IP and who has been involved in discussions abut the Companies areas of design concerns for my chosen Brand of Cartridge. I have been in correspondence about the parts used for the Cart’s assembly across the Brands Range, and how the parts are able to influence the presentation, this information has been freely discussed along with other options of Cantilever Materials and Styli that are not used by the Brand. That is the best I could achieve on the matter and am not in any further pursuit to gain further knowledge, I am happy and content to remain with my low levels of knowledge.

Being endlessly inquisitive, I would happily jump at the chance of encountering a demonstration of a Cart’ from the Brand that I am expressing a very long term interest in. .

Thanks You @nandric its not all Tunnel Vision only, during my allowance of time to be intentionally shared in harmony, at the small space I am occupying on my journey on our wonderful planet.   

@Yeti42. The following is a selection of quite recently posted information about he services that are offering a FGS Styli. The one referring to NWA is very recent.

 I had my DL103M done by Dom at NWA - ' North West Analogue' - (DCS cantilever with FGS tip) and the service and quality of work is excellent.
Sounds awesome too so fully recommend.

Goldring are also reported to offer a 'retip' service offering the FGS

The link to Lenco Heaven will also show the 'retip' rebuild service from needlestein, where the FGS has been used. This service is based in the Location: West Hartford, CT 

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=8090.855

I'm sure a few more options might surface as well from the USA side of the pond.

.

I am open to be corrected, but I thought there was a limit to the life of a Patent, that was approx' 20 Years of the protection offered, and then the protection enforcement diminished.

Maybe there are Styli being shaped to a particular form that is governed by a very tight tolerance for the dimensions produced.

If this is the case, is producing a version of the Styli, that is polished to the degree the Sales Spiel is a version that is no longer deemed an infringement of the Patent ? Maybe each supplier that is being suggested has their own version of the Styli, has their own unique treatment for it as well, that keeps them from a Patent Infringement, 0.01 dimension difference or something of the like ??

As said I am open to be corrected.

I make the reference to the above as a result of a recollection to a description I was given in my youth, to a question I had raised to a knowledgeable person.

Note: this is from many years past and is a not in any way a word for word transcript.

As a robust story, I was young, actually young fighting fit with a queue of girls falling at my feet.

I also like Cars, actually little Cars with  Hatch Batch and these had to be fast, well faster than any other little Hatch Back met on the road, these little cars evolved into be known as 'Hot Hatches' when all could be done to make them 'Hot'.   

There is one thing about having a Hot Hatch that is over looked by the Hot Hatch owner and the story is quite simple, the Hotter your Hatch, the Speedier such a Hatch will be, and good braking ability becomes very important, as guess what, ah you have guessed it already, yes correct, the Hot Hatch is being Braked as much as being accelerated.

The Hot Hatch owner in the Honeymoon Period with their Hottest Hatch on the Road, well their opinion of their Hot Hatch, only has Two Ambitions for any monies becoming available, One being Purchasing Fuel, the other adding go faster bits and pieces, even bling only comes into the equation when Girls enter the equation.

Braking who needs it, this one is certainly a consideration that is dead and buried, until it has the Lazarus Moment, it arises from the Dead and Buried like no other,  it is accompanied by WTF's and all types of Expletives and Cursing, having no Brakes of any use at certain times can create this expression of oneself.

Mr Hot Hatch will usually discover they have this capacity to express themselves in such a way, from a couple of experiences to be met, with One of these being the Red Traffic Control Light and a Few Cars awaiting the light to change. Mr Hot Hatch when true to form, will accelerate toward the Queue of Cars, smash on the Brakes and rest as good as on the rear bumper of the back of the queue vehicle and quite happily rev the engine as loud as to get their presence known to all in the queue.

Try the above with no Braking of any value.

What is quickly learnt if the Hotty isn't an insurance write off,  is that the Go Faster Stripes budget has now go to be redirected stopping quickly methods.

The Alien and Unexplored field of Braking is now to be entered, and the Call to the local garage who deals in the Brand of Vehicle supplies a price for the Pads and Discs and it is now looking like the Hot Hatch is to be sold on to raise the funds.

Then the local Auto Spares Outlet is called and ones woes are shared with the very helpful staff member, who is trained for these moments, no worries Sir, off course we can do better than that price Sir, well get you back on the road in no time Sir, just call in with your Wallet / Pocket Book.

Within an hour of the making the phone call, one is enlightened, the Pads and Discs can be had for two thirds less that the dealership garage, and NFW moment with a few other expletives, oh and a Robbing Bast**ds is a mandatory as well.

As said in a previous post, I am inquisitive, it does go back a long way that trait of mine. I inquired as to how such a price reduction is able to be offered, to which I got a description that might just be relevant to Styli Forms.

Think of Brake Pad and Disc as a Form created with a selection of specific dimensions to within a particular allowance of dim' tolerances, think of the form produced as being a design for a particular function on a particular range of vehicles and these Materials are used on the vehicle prior to being sold through the Manufacturers Dealership as a New Vehicle, and the Parts in use are all with a Patent protection.

X amount of years of the vehicle being on the road, the warranty period is over, the returns to the Dealership Garage for servicing, and maintenance/ Warranty covered work is no longer a requirement.

Then the savvy business entrepreneurs are waiting in the wings, with their methods to extract business from the Main Dealer Garage supplying Parts and offering alternate options at very discounted prices.

How about the same producer of the Patent Produced Parts are contacted.

Imagine a conversation such as, Entrepreneur - I want a 100 000 Pad and Discs to be supplied to the Manufacture Spec of ??? Motor Company, is this a standard spec you offer or is this spec bespoke.

Producer - We do not do bespoke spec, all of our production items is produced to one standard.

Entrepreneur - Can you produce the 100 000 items to these specific dimensions and they must not infringe the dimensions as per the ??? Motor Companies Patent for their parts. 

Producer - Off course we can, are you sure you will only be wanting 100 000, we can offer you a substantial price improvement at 250 000 units.   

In a nut shell the answer I received from the Staff Member from the Auto Spares Outlet, was such that incremental changes to the dimensions for the Parts enable them to be offered for use as Parts on the vehicles and these are offered heavily discounted as the ??? Motor Company is not part of the supply chain.

Motor Vehicles are Big Business and 'very protected' commercial entities, if this method for supplying exchange parts can happen in that commercial environment, the subject of different suppliers Styli possibly being Duplicates of an earlier produced Styli, is about as substantial as discussing if different Match Stick Brands available today are Duplicates of other earlier produced Brands Match Sticks.                    

In relation to the Replicant 100, all that surrounds this that is not made known to the Consumer, is the Companies IP and this information may never be offered at a level where the source of the information is the undoubted authority on the matter.

Any other speculation is 'here say' and can inaccuracies woven into the descriptions being offered.

As said before the critical dimensions and Tip Shape 'may' be the only safe method to carry out the comparisons between the differing Styli from the Brands referred to, but are these dimensions on offer from all parties about their product ?  

OK @nandric I am receiving loud and clear,  I don't need a new thread to commence, I will not offer any further input to this thread unless I discover if  ' Expert stylus (Paratrace) provide them to the other mentioned '.

In the opening Post beyond the claim that a correction may be needed, there are references to Five Brands and Five differing Stylus Form/Models from those Brands, that does not steer one towards a specific subject matter about a Specific Stylus Form, the Thread has evolved into a multi faceted 'pardon the pun' range of discussion.

     

In an ideal world, if only one side of the Tip was seen to be with excessive wear, a 'retip' service would not be required, turning the Cart' 180 Degrees on the Headshell mounting would be a simple fix requiring a much lesser skill set.  

@edgewear The Copy and Paste below from a previous Post within this thread would seem to offer similar content to your own findings when comparing Styli within an assembly, even though only two of the four styli types were the same design, the general assessment was that the overall Build of the Cartridge was the most contributing factor to the differences in presentation being detected.  

 

'As there were Two of the same Brands Styli Model and One other Styli from the same Brand of the former, the effect of the Styli on a replay was suggested to be a consideration to be assessed when listening, i.e surface noise, and whether any comparatively noticeable changes to the information retrieval was being detected. 

As said previously, not one attendee was able to say with conviction that they felt the Styli was solely responsible for the noticeable differences in the SQ and Performance on offer from a Cart'.

The discussions concluded with an agreement that leaned toward,  the known differences about the methods used for the assembly of the Cart's, was most likely the reason why the Model used in the Standard Form, which was also the Model with most hours of usage of approx 200 Hrs, was the one showing the least attractors and the model with the rebuild to the New High Spec' Parts and approx' 100 Hrs of usage was showing the most attractors.'

I would like to think the Link will supply @nandric a fuel coals for the fire that is set on this matter.

The idea that the word Replicant can misused and used to mean Replica, might be instrumental in why there is an assumption the Styli is a Copy.

The Link has a little further information of the similarity and uniqueness of the Form produced, as well as a reference to a Patent. 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/the-ortofon-replicant-100-geometry.5909/

I've been included in the contributions to the Thread, and J Carr and needlestein have both contributed information that is quite valuable to a Thread that evolved into covering certain Styli / Cantilevers.

needlestein has made the overall Thread Discussion clearer, and as he has a very hands on experience, is most likely quite familiar with the range of styli and their forms under discussion.

For myself, I have drawn this conclusion.

If I want a Styli, referred to as a Replicant 100, I go to Ortofon and purchase a Cart' Solely from their range .

If I want a Paratrace I discuss this with ESC do learn my options.

If I want a Gyger 'S' I purchase a Cart' with this attached, or I discuss my options with a service competent and skilled in carrying out the attaching of this styli.

Any other quest for trivia information beyond this seems to not bear the fruit of knowing how to acquire the parts in question.

Decca styli does not seem to catch the attention and is overlooked in nearly all contributions, so I will pass on learning how to acquire such a styli.

As said before does the reference made from Ortofon about their Replicant, that is supplied in a form where Ultra Fine with Extra Polishing are the distinguished merits.

Does such a Treatment of the Styli, produce enough of a Variant for Ortofon to claim their own particular form for the Styli ? 

Either way if I want one I will need to go direct to a Ortofon Cartridge as New Model, Used Model or Donor Model for a Hybrid Cart'.  

@nandric Thank You for offering a description on my behalf, there is a difference between us on Two Accounts.

I have not been influenced by a forum member/members and expressed a careful use of a term to dilute my meaning.

If I were to use the term 'rebuild' it would be from my interpretation, an attempt to produce an item that was a close mimic or best match to a item that was previously in place, and attempt to reproduce something that had been valued.

When I refer to a Hybrid Cart' I am referring to a Cart' that will be assembled using elements that are valued in other designs, but all the parts used in the assembly will not be seen usually as a production from a particular Brand.

To achieve this the assembly will be undertaken by a Technician who is trusted in their field of work and quite capable of producing a Cart' that offers a very good performance.

I own Cart's produced from such methods of production and at present have a Cart' awaiting a treatment to produce another variation of a Hybrid Cart.

To date I have shared in being a member of an audience at demonstrations where  a few models produced from this method have been used.

In certain cases, it has been possible to have been able to compare a Hybrid model to a model that has remained as per the manufacturers production.

I am yet to be introduced to a Bespoke Built, Hybrid Model that does not excel  during a demonstration and when used in a comparison to other models using the same core elements, I am not yet to to discover a Hybrid Model that has been outperformed during the demonstration and assessed to be an incorrect choice made for the Cartridge.

I have shared in dialogue with services that offer the use of variations of elements to produce a Bespoke Built Cart' and it is quite interesting the differences that certain technicians are able to communicate on.  There are technicians who really do hear your preferences and suggest a method of assembly to get close to a product that reflects the requests being made.  

At the same time, I do believe there are experiences to be had where a Bespoke Built - Hybrid Cart, can be a let down as a finished item. My suspicion/concern is that a service selected to complete the works that does not fully understand the requirements of the end user can be a large proportion of the reasons why the end product failed to impress.   

 

If any of the Styli mentioned in this thread that are produced are appearing to have evolved from a similar origin and are close mimics of the Styli form that is the origin.

Is it not a belief by many that such a Styli is able to be used as an upgrade part to be exchanged with Styli selected to be used on another Brands Model.

The question 'is' and one that has already been loosely addressed in previous posts, as a report on how subjective assessments have been made on the impact of a Styli on a Cart' , how much does such a Styli Form impact on the overall performance for the better.

The subjective assessments referred to earlier, seems to suggest the 'for the better' is achieved when the whole of the assembly is considered as being responsible for the improvements detected.

I can purchase a  (Ska) SKYANALOG Cart' that is a Companies own Brand, and from a Company that has become an established Manufacturer , which has been producing Cart's for Brands most with a enthusiasm for Vinyl will have come across.

With the (Ska), I can get latest technology materials used and from reports on offer from growing users, have access to a Cart' that has put known and admired  Branded Cart's on the Sub's Bench.

Will taking such model from the (Ska) range and putting a Gyger 'S' or a variant on to it, now produce a Cart' that will be a cut above all (Ska) models without the Tip Exchange ?

 Will taking such model from the (Ska) range with latest technologies on board and putting a Gyger 'S' or a variant on to it, produce a Cart' that will hold its own and perform at a level that much more expensive Cart's are able to deliver ?