Boron Cantilever and Ruby Cantilever, Why Ruby?

04-19-12: Dhl93449
Mechans:

Diamond and sapphire are extremely brittle, in that you cannot bend or flex them without breakage. I did not mean they were not strong materials.

In a long needle shaped (ie length>>>diameter) structure like a cantalever, they would be very fragile. As used in jewelry in bulk crystal form, of course not.

In a cantalever, they are probably attached to an elastomer of some sort to allow flexing and movement. This allows some degree of freedom but I still suggest that these must be handled with the utmost care.

While any cantilever should be treated with care, my experience is that sapphire/ruby are not particularly fragile.
My Talisman Sapphire survived many years of heavy use without needing to exercise 'utmost' care (its still in one piece). I've been using my Denon 103R with a modded Soundsmith ruby cantilever for about 18 months - and that 'feels' quite robust too.
On the other hand I've managed to snap a few boron cantilevers over the years.
Although this is not solid data, I suspect boron cantilevers are more 'fragile' than ruby/sapphire.
I think aluminium cantilevers are quite fragile too - they won't 'snap', but they will bend, after which they're ruined. YMMV.

Hey tobes, - - - are you out there?

you’ve answered a lagitiment question pertaining to this post, "is going through the repairing process," benificial? Pointing out a cavet’  that has to be pending, and you say "my experience is that sapphire/ruby are not particularly fragile". " I’ve been using my Denon 103R with a modded Soundsmith ruby cantilever for about 18 months - and that ’feels’ quite robust too".
Spot on man.
So now knowing that the Jem Cantilever repair isn’t impractially delicate, IS a load off, but you only answered part of your experience (how’s the sound)?#1: Is the Soundsmith ruby cantilever a sonic improvement over the factory stock Denon 103 cantilever?#2: Through your experience, do you recomend the Soundsmith route, or, if you had to do it again would you go with the factory exchange program?#3: Your make on: Sapphire cantilever vs Soundsmith ruby cantilever?
Thx,appreciate it.

It's an availability thing and the pricing for boron rods forced change. Manufacturers moved to as ex. sapphire and other gemstones for cost primarily but availability is also a major issue.  This is a quote right on Ortofon's site acknowledging the change a while back. 

"Over the decades, there has been an increase in the use of Boron. Elemental Boron is mostly used in high tech applications. One of Boron's benefits for our modern technology is its use in neodymium magnets, which are an alloy of neodymium, iron and boron. Boron has also been applied in manufacturing of phono cartridges: Boron cantilevers are strong, stiff, light and 100% inert. From all possible options Boron cantilever is the best, but unfortunately extremely difficult to obtain."

They do acknowledge Boron is a better choice , something I always felt showed in the sound characteristics. 

Not sure if it is Shelter or Zyx - but one of the highest models choose an aluminium cantilever over a boron one on the basis that given the other design parameters it is the better material. I don't think that it's as simple as just one item alone.

Some amazing cartridges with Aluminum cantilevers are the Miyabi, Fidelity-Research, Miyajima. That was the choice of the designers based of sound quality. 

Some other cartridges are amazing with Hollow Pipe Boron or Boron Rod, Beryllium, Ruby, Titanium or even Ceramic (the most exotic) cantilevers. 

I've owned good looking cartridges with Sapphire cantilevers and some of them are absolutely inferior compared to Beryllium or even Aluminum. 

So the answer is not in cantilever material, but in overall design of the cartridge. 

Ruby always looks nicer :)