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Would you use an Ortofon A90 on a Jelco tonearm?

Friends,
i sold my ART9 cartridge and now looking for an upgrade. I like Ortofon carts. I have been able to locate a low mileage A90 and a Per  windfeld cartridge that I could afford. I don't have a top quality tonearm though. Would you put an A90 on a tonearm like Jelco 750d ? Or would you spend additional $1000 on a better tonearm and get a less exotic cart like the windfeld ?
pani
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

stringreen, Yes , retipping the stylus is much more dificult to do

then cantilever/stylus combo. Finding the right stylus which will

fit in the hole of the existing cantilever is very time consuming .

Then the stylus need to be oriented with the hard side towards

the groove and then glued at the right angle. But the cantilever/

stylus combo is much more expensive then stylus anlone. BTW

I am talking about boron cantilever with whatever ''exotic stylus''.

Aluminum cantilever with  elliptical stylus is about 100 euro .

Axel Schurholz who is a good friend of my explained this to me

as the reason why he refuse to do this jobe.

 

wrm57
1,096 posts
 
Soundsmith does offer an A90 retip using what Peter told me is the Ortofon Replicant 100 stylus. He has them in stock. It is a stylus-only retip, affixing the diamond to the original A90 cantilever. Peter does it personally. I don't recall the cost--around $500, I believe. I had him do mine and it sounds as good as new.

Before Soundsmith, on the same cartridge, I had Orotofon perform their full rebuild/retip at $1,800 (yes, I've logged many hours on this cart) and Peter's sounds just as good. The only difference is that I now keep the arm parallel rather than significantly raised in the back, so he might have changed the SRA from factory. I don't mind that change.
bimasta's avatar
bimasta
227 posts
 
@Nandric — I always enjoy your answers. You state above:

"Yes, retipping the stylus is much more difficult to do than cantilever/stylus combo. Finding the right stylus which will fit in the hole of the existing cantilever is very time consuming."

What about my old Koetsu Rosewood Longbody? The stylus is gone — but the cantilever is straight, not a scratch, perfect. I want to keep the boron cantilever. I just want a nice diamond on it.

But there's NO HOLE. There's a flat-spot on the cantilever, and the stone just sits on it. Obviously an adhesive is used to keep it there. And preferrably the stone should have a flattish bottom.

That's how Sugano did it, and the Zen Master knew the essence of Zen is simplicity. And it worked.

So your argument about the poor retipper wasting his waning years searching for the right size hole (a more proper pursuit for a younger man), and having to charge extra for it, does not apply.

According to your description, attaching a stylus to my Koetsu should be much easier (and cheaper) than trying a hundred stones until one fits the hole.

It should also be much easier (and cheaper) than fitting an entire cantilever/stylus combo into the junction pipe.

Please tell me who will do this very easy and cheap stylus retip, without charging extra for reasons that don't apply. 



pani OP
1,238 posts
 
Now that we hav the retip question almost sorted, would you install an A-90 on a Jelco 750D tonearm ?
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

Bimasta, you overlooked that the statements you ascribe to me

are made by Axel Schurholz with more then 40 years experience

as retipper. Not to complicate the story I deed not mention the

problem with glue. All those ''lost styli'' are lost because the glue

is solved by stylus cleaners. Gluing the stylus at the under side

of the stylus (aka without hole in the cantilever) should be even

more difficult but for your remark to apply this kind of retip should

be the rule not exception. The most cantilevers have a hole in

which the stylus is glued (''exotic styli'') or ''pressure fitted'' as by

(some) aluminum cantilevers. As J. Carr mentioned in the

''cantilevers thread'' this is the advantage of aluminum cantilevers.

Your way of reasoning is called ''induction''. From the fact that my

girl is a hooker one can't deduce that all girls are hooker.

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