You have an extremely rare diamond-dust sputtered boron tube cantilever, and hopefully the suspension will learn to dance again after several hrs play
I renew the rubber capstan rollers on my tape recorders with something like this I bought many years ago, just a speck if you must.
I came across this info about your cartridge
"neobop
Well-Known Member
Choice of cantilever material depends on the designer’s priorities and voicing. Boron is the material of choice for many designers because it’s very rigid, transmits energy the fastest and is light weight. Beryllium is even lighter (and more brittle), also more flexible than boron so it’s more exact than aluminum yet has some of the warmth. Ruby/sapphire is heavier and rigid, but some like those from Soundsmith are extremely thin, practically transparent so they’re light and don’t sound slow - very detailed.
Monster MCs were designed by Hisayoshi Nakatsuka, the same guy who designed the Accuphase AC-1, 2, and 3. That was in the late ’70s, early ’80s. Since the Monster days in the late ’80s he designs the ZYX carts. This is the same basic design as the Monster carts and the specs on some are identical. The coil configuration came from the ’80s, but I’m not sure about more recent ZYX designs like the Universe.
Monsters - Of the low output models first there was the Genesis 500. Very nice cart with a micro ridge. It was the predecessor to the Genesis 1000, similar and almost as refined. The 1000 is one of my all time favorite carts. It also has a micro ridge and a diamond dust coated boron tube cantilever. A boron tube cantilever is unobtainium today and extremely desirable.
The Sigma 2000 was identical to the 1000 except it has gold coils. The 2000 is more lush and smoother than the 1000, but not as fast.
With Monster the model number was the price. The 1000 was $800 when it first came out, but went up to $1K the same year ("88). The 2000 came out in ’89. Some months after the 1000 came out there was a redesign - an improvement. This was done without announcement. It wasn’t a MKII. Response was extended past 100K. It was previously 60 or 80K. I traded mine in, but I heard no difference. I’m not sure what happened in the ’90s. I think there was a MKII 1000 and maybe a couple of lesser models."
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In order to get back to Beryllium cantilevers, and light tracking 1.25g, I have taken a chance and gotten lucky on used vintage AT160ML’s, rediscovering how awesome MM can sound. They have gold coated Beryllium.
Steve at VAS just checked one for me and remarked how the AT suspensions can last forever it seems.
I just posted this idea in another discussion:
IF you are not comfortable risking buying a used stylus, but like AT’s dual magnet sound and light 1.25 tracking, you can buy a used MM cartridge and put a new stylus in it.
I like Boron if buying new, and I see they still sell 3 VMN Boron Stylii that fit these older AT150, AT155, AT160; AT440 bodies
AT-VMN45xML (microlinear/nude/boron cantilever)
AT-VMN50xSH (Shibata/nude/boron cantilever)
AT-VMN60xSL (special line contact/nude/boron cantilever)
For Imaging, AT160ML with Beryllium Stylus achieved 0.5db channel balance; 31 db channel separation at 1kh.
Put a new boron cantilever with one of those 3 choices, we have to guess: perhaps it changes to what they are getting in their MM cartridges with boron, i.e. 1.0db channel balance; 26db channel separation, the advantage is those cartridges track at 2.0g, the vintage designs track at nominal 1.25g
The AT MC cartridges Imaging, even my moderately priced AT33PTG/II do a bit better at 0.5/30db at 2.0g which makes you admire that the AT160ml MM specs are 0.5db/31db at 1.25g