Is it worth getting an 11 year old cartridge re-tipped?
Hi - I have a Lyra Kleos which is 11 years old with about 1500 hours use. It now mis-tracks on a few LP's that play perfectly on a friends system. My dealer had a look at it through his USB miocroscope and said that the stylus was rounded and suspension seemed a bit flat. He said he didn't think there was much life left in it.
So, I could send it away to be re-tipped, but given its age I am wondering whether or not I shoukd just get a new unit in case the damper/suspension is beyond repair...
OP - please let us know what path you go down...(if you decide to rebuild, who you use, and how it sounds). I have a Lyra Kleos SL (only ~ three yrs old) I keep as a backup and still has good life left, but will likely not bother with a factory rebuild when the time comes. VAS and SS sound like reasonable alternatives. |
Dear @bazb : I owned the Kleos and other Lyra cartridges along top other cartridges from different designers. Don’t make the mistake to send the Kleos to any re-tipper but directly to Lyra that not only will return a NEW Kleos cartridge but one Kleos with all Lyra up-dates till today and these facts can’t do it by any re-tipper. @jcarr you can be in toich with the designer through Agon or wait for Jonathan to chime in this thread. Here the Lyra site and if you have enough gain in your phono stage the you can ask a interchange for a new Lyra Kleos SL that’s even better quality performer:
https://lyraanalog.com/kleos.php
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS, R.
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A few months ago, I purchased a Clearaudio cartridge. I had a few questions, so I e-mailed Garth Leerer of Musical Surroundings (USA distributor of Clearaudio products). One of my questions pertained to re-tipping. I wanted to know the process. Who do I work with (Musical Surroundings or the store where I made the purchase)? Do I have to ship it to Germany? Garth told me that I would get a brand new cartridge. I asked him what would happen if that model is no longer in production. He replied that I would get its replacement or better.
If Lyra works the same way as Clearaudio, then the suspension issue is not an issue. |
I had Soundsmith re-tip my Lyra Skala several years ago, and the results were fine, but it was no longer a Lyra. It sounded OK, but nothing like the original. Soundsmith's 'one size fits all' re-tipping strategy just didn't do it for me personally, and I would likely never use them again. That same cartridge is now with Joseph Long with instructions to restore it as closely as possible to original Lyra spec. I expect good things, as I would from VAS. |
