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Who needs a Diamond Cantilever...? 💍

So suddenly, there seems to be a trend for Uber-LOMC cartridges released with Diamond Cantilevers...😱
As if the High-End MC cartridges were not already overpriced....?!
Orofon have released the MC-ANNA-DIAMOND after previously releasing the Limited Edition MC-CENTURY...also with Diamond Cantilever.
Then there’s the KOETSU BLOODSTONE PLATINUM and DYNAVECTOR KARAT 17D2 and ZYX ULTIMATE DIAMOND and probably several more.

But way back in 1980....Sony released a Diamond-Cantilevered version of its fine XL-88 LOMC Cartridge.
Imaginatively....they named this model the XL-88D and, because it was the most expensive phono cartridge in the world (costing 7500DM which was more expensive than a Volkswagen at the time)....Sony, cleverly disguised this rare beast to look EXACTLY like its ’cheap’ brother with its complex hybrid cantilever of "special light metal held by a carbon-fibre pipe both being held again by a rigid aluminium pipe".
The DIAMOND CANTILEVER on the 88D however......was a thing of BEAUTY and technological achievement, being formed from ONE PIECE OF DIAMOND including the stylus 🤯🙏🏽

I’ve owned the XL-88 for many years and recently discovered that it was my best (and favourite) cartridge when mounted in the heavy Fidelity Research S-3 Headshell on the SAEC WE-8000/ST 12" Tonearm around my VICTOR TT-101 TURNTABLE.
Without knowing this in advance.....I would not have been prepared to bid the extraordinary prices (at a Japanese Auction Site) that these rare cartridges keep commanding.
To find one in such STUNNING CONDITION with virtually no visible wear was beyond my expectations 😃

So how does it sound.....?
Is there a difference to the standard XL-88?
Is the Diamond Cantilever worth the huge price differential?
Is the Pope a Catholic....?

This cartridge simply ’blows my mind’...which is hard to do when I’ve had over 80 cartridges on 10 different arms mounted on two different turntables 🤯
As Syntax said on another Thread:-
When you have 2 identical carts, one regular cantilever and the other one with diamond cantilever (Koetsu Stones for example), the one with diamond cantilever shows more details, is a bit sharper in focus and the soundstage is a bit deeper and wider. They can sound a bit more detailed overall with improved dynamics
I’ll leave it at that for the time being. I will soon upload to YouTube, the sound comparisons between the two Sony versions on my HEAR MY CARTRIDGES THREAD.

But now I’ve bought myself a nightmarish scenario.......
There is no replacement stylus for this cartridge!
There is no replacement cantilever for this cartridge!
Each time I play records with it, I am ’killing’ it a bit more 🥴😥
If I knew how long I had left to live......I could program my ’listening sessions’ 🤪
But failing this.....I can’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable listening to this amazing machine.
128x128halcro
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,222 posts
 
bestgrooove, that is interesting to hear about your experience with VDH.
Just in looking at pictures of his cartridges I always thought they looked amateurish. What you are saying does not surprise me at all but there are some people who swear by his work. I would never buy one because the workmanship is not up to the standards other manufacturers use. AHH, "but it is handmade!" I've got news for everyone, all cartridges are hand made. AHH, "but not by VDH himself!" I would rather have my cartridge built by a 26 year old woman with eagle eyes and rock steady hands. I'm 67 and I would never try to assemble a cartridge now. I can place sutures but I have to use one hand to steady the other. Working under a microscope would be a real mess. 
best-groove's avatar
best-groove
831 posts
 
@mijostyn

....and VDH cartridges also very expensive or at the top ordered to the shopkeeper "new" that arrive with the cantilever not in axis or with channels umbalanced .....do we want to discuss quality controls? Bahhhhh.

Better to spread a veil of pity, so as not to write worse.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
12,822 posts
 
Dear @best-groove : " with electric pen on the body all the cartridges that pass through his hands..."

Certainly not all. VDH fixed around 10-12 non VDH cartridges with success and only on one of them used an easy to take out stiker. VDH fixed to me and other two gentlemans an almost new EPC100C MK4 cartridges that I don’t knew was a reference for him and still uses.

Is it the best re-tipper out there or the best alternative? maybe not today there are several very good re-tippers but VDH makes a good job in a decent time and not so expensive as some of the other re-tippers.
In the other side nothing is perfect in the audio world that sometimes happens what your brother experienced.

"" do we want to discuss quality controls? "" .

  Come on, sometimes even from new top of the line LOMC " things " happens like whe the Anna just appeared in the market. Obviously Ortofon took care of the owners and fixed one for all the " problem " with the next Anna samples.
But rigth in this thread mijostyn posted what happened to him with a new Clearaudio and I remember very well that been at the place of a very good friend in a trip to houston he had mounted in his Rockpot rig a Lyra Titan i  and when the cartridge started to track the first LP we detected that something was wrong because we were listened some kind of music/sound but totally wrong, then after a while and checking every where we took in count that the Titan i had not the stylus tip and I  saked him how many hour of play had that cartridge and he told me around 200 hours.

Btw, normally I don’t send to any re-tipper a top of the line recent LOMC cartridge but to the manufacturer for a change by.

R.


best-groove's avatar
best-groove
831 posts
 
Certainly not all. VDH fixed around 10-12 non VDH cartridges with success and only on one of them used an easy to take out stiker.

have you checked well with a magnifying glass if he has applied his signature on your cartridges?

Give me the time I take a macro photo on a head that I bought from a friend; my friend (just for a check before sell) have send the Mr. VdH the cartridge and have applied the goddamn signature of him.

At first I did not notice it then inspecting it well I discovered that he had signed this cartridge as well, but by now it was too late and I had already paid.
best-groove's avatar
best-groove
831 posts
 
@rauliruegas

Here look what he did, he ruined an Audioquest AQ 7000 worth over 3000 $ in my country by putting his damn signature on it without authorization.
If I had been in the friend who sent her for a check I would have sued VdH for damages without thinking for a moment; this kind of thing makes me terribly pissed off.

https://i.postimg.cc/PrdMcY9H/P1010882.jpg
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