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Would you use an Ortofon A90 on a Jelco tonearm?

Friends,
i sold my ART9 cartridge and now looking for an upgrade. I like Ortofon carts. I have been able to locate a low mileage A90 and a Per  windfeld cartridge that I could afford. I don't have a top quality tonearm though. Would you put an A90 on a tonearm like Jelco 750d ? Or would you spend additional $1000 on a better tonearm and get a less exotic cart like the windfeld ?
pani
sturgus
65 posts
 
Soundsmith does do retipping, although it's more expensive than replacing the cantilever/stylus assembly.
nandric's avatar
nandric
3,263 posts
 

sturgus, Your statement is not clear to me. Do you mean that

replacing the stylus only in the existing cantilever is more expensive

then the whole cantilever/ stylus combo? This would be strange

because boron cantilever+ stylus cost about 500 euro in Europe

while stylus ''solo'' cost about 200 euro.

stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
Nandric....its a harder job.
nandric's avatar
nandric
3,263 posts
 

stringreen, Yes , retipping the stylus is much more dificult to do

then cantilever/stylus combo. Finding the right stylus which will

fit in the hole of the existing cantilever is very time consuming .

Then the stylus need to be oriented with the hard side towards

the groove and then glued at the right angle. But the cantilever/

stylus combo is much more expensive then stylus anlone. BTW

I am talking about boron cantilever with whatever ''exotic stylus''.

Aluminum cantilever with  elliptical stylus is about 100 euro .

Axel Schurholz who is a good friend of my explained this to me

as the reason why he refuse to do this jobe.

 

wrm57
629 posts
 
Soundsmith does offer an A90 retip using what Peter told me is the Ortofon Replicant 100 stylus. He has them in stock. It is a stylus-only retip, affixing the diamond to the original A90 cantilever. Peter does it personally. I don't recall the cost--around $500, I believe. I had him do mine and it sounds as good as new.

Before Soundsmith, on the same cartridge, I had Orotofon perform their full rebuild/retip at $1,800 (yes, I've logged many hours on this cart) and Peter's sounds just as good. The only difference is that I now keep the arm parallel rather than significantly raised in the back, so he might have changed the SRA from factory. I don't mind that change.
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