VAS (Steven Leung) cartridge repair/retipping service?


Any experience with or opinions about VAS/Steven Leung repair/retipping service?  Not for VAS cartridge.

Thanks!
frogman

Showing 3 responses by whart

I just got a cartridge from Steve this week as a stopgap- my go to has been Airtight, and i'm curious about stone-bodied Koetsus in my arm, but i reached out to Steve to supply me with a rebuilt Monster Genesis 1000- very different cartridge in tonality from the Airtights- but thing arrived fast with all the necessary mounting hardware and though my arm wasn't conducive to an older style nut and bolt set up given the additional mounting plate to add mass to this Monster (4 grams without the additional plate), I finally got it mounted, dialed in and singing. (Still in break in mode but this thing tracks like a Motha and is very resolving though a bit lean). Steve was readily available to address my mounting issues, and easy to work with. Trust. 
Original cantilever was boron, maybe diamond dusted or something, new cantilever is aluminum. Don’t remember the stylus profile offhand.
I suspect Steve will build you whatever you want- the materials cost of boron may be higher but it’s still within the range of a few hundred bucks, which is not a vast difference in price when you are talking about high end cartridges today, where the norm is around 10k dollars and the uber cartridges are offered at 15k plus retail (I know, nobody pays full boat, but still).
Worth exploring.
Yep, as Frogman sez, @slaw these things are monsters in the tracking department, not just in name. And even though the re-do I bought from Steve isn’t using the original cantilever, its compliance is more ’medium’ than ’high’ which also inspires confidence in handling. Still breaking in, but it is a very impressive cartridge--I will be surprised if it delivers the texture and tone of the Airtight in the midrange- it still sounds a little ’light’ in tone to my ears (this is personal take, given my preference and system) but in other respects, it is a better performer: tracking, as mentioned, and in the unraveling of detail without sounding bright. Hell of a cartridge, and in this day and age of 15k dollar top tier cartridges, an insane bargain. (Disregard Crazy Eddie selling style). :)