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I'm having a Koetsu Urushi re tipped at SoundSmith. From the options available the top choices are:
Ruby Cantilever / Nude Contact Line Diamond 350US
Ruby Cantilever / Optimized Contour Nude Contact Line Diamond 399
Boron Cantilever with Nude Contact Line 450
My initial choice was the boron cantilever as this is what is supplied with the original cartridge but then I'm not so sure now.
Anybody gone down this road before that can comment?
Follow Ups:
Don't be in a rush to replace the cantilever - part of the Koetsu sound would be related to the "special metal" used for the cantilever. When you retip an existing cantilever, you still risk altering the tip mass and therefore the tracking ability, but assuming the new tip is similar in mass, the tonal balance should remain the same. Once you change the cantilever, you risk altering the tonal character due to the possible differences in mechanical properties of the new materials compared to the old.
In short, if you replace the cantilever plus tip, you are likely to have a different sounding cartridge....which may be what you are after?
With respect to the OLC tip (which I have had put on an old Denon cartridge), they are extremely fussy of both azimuth and SRA. If either is off, you get noticeably coarse, spitty sibilance. If you are able to alter arm height accurately, then you are rewarded with a hyper detailed sound, otherwise you may be better off with either the LC tip or the hyper elliptical tip which would be more closely related to the quadrahedral tip originally on the Koetsu.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
In your list. I had the Ruby/Optimized stylus added to my DL-103D and the Boron/LC added to my DL-103R.
The differences between the Boron and Ruby cantilevers are subtle. I have found that the Boron cantilever sounds slightly more neutral than the Ruby cantilever. The difference is not huge but I prefer the Boron cantilever.
The optimized LC stylus is capable of retrieving more detail than the standard LC stylus but it is a little more sensitive to azimuth alignment than the standard LC tip.
Once again, the above comments should not be interpreted as some night and day differences. The difference between the 2nd and 3rd choices in your list are subtle but there is a difference.
Personally I would like to hear the Boron cantilever mated to the optimized LC stylus. That might be interesting.
Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
I am inclined to agree, but I suppose a lot depends on the cartridge. Sometimes, a simple tapered aluminum cantilever is the order of the day. Whatever the case, sometimes a retip can drastically alter the original sound of a given cartridge, for better or worse.
However, the DL-103 family (except for the DL-103M) is reknown for a very neutral generator that can benefit from any kind of retip. A cottage industry sprung up long ago to retip and replace the body of the 103 family. None of this is news to you, I am sure.
The only exception, the DL-103M, is an exception because is already comes with a Boron cantilever and special elliptical stylus. I have one of these also and its an interesting cartridge. It is a very low output cartridge and requires a step up or head amp capable of handling a cartridge with very low output and high internal impedance (0.12mv/ch and 40 ohms).
The 103M also has a metal body so I assume it may be a response from Denon based on all of the retipping and body replacements going on. It is worth checking out if someone has the right gear. I haven't tried it with my latest phono preamp, a Liberty Audio B2B-1, but I tend to think it may be decent pairing due to the relatively high gain and very low noise of that preamp.
The DL-103D came with an aluminum cantilever and special elliptical stylus. As good as that combo was, the weakness of the stock 103D was a tendency for the sound to break up when tracing a complex and loud performance with plenty of high frequency content (like cymbals). It wasn't terrible but you could hear the sound closing up when the cartridge was pressed for lots of the above.
I first retipped my 103D with a VdH Type 1 stylus and boron cantilever. That combo totally removed the cartridge's weakness mentioned above. The finer tracing of the VdH type 1 stylus also improved the resolution of the cartridge beyond the special elliptical stylus on the stock cartridge. After this experience I stuck with the higher end cantilevers and stylus profiles.
Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
I would replace only the stylus unless the cantilever has a problem.
So when it came time for a retip. I chose the aluminum cantilever/elliptical option from Soundsmith and could not be more pleased with the result. I got better extension and resolution on top and kept the great midrange of the 103.
Opus 33 1/3
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