Retip for zyx

@lewm, anyone can refute anything they want, in my system on my arm the two Lyras in question sounded better to my ears and that is not debateable, I have even gone as far as sending SS a Shelter 901 with plenty of life left to have it rebuilt to achieve the instant upgrade. Now with all this said I have had a Dynavector DRT XV1s rebuilt with the same ruby cantilever and OLC stylus and it was not as good as the original so when I wear out the DRT XV1s I have now in stock form I will have it retipped and hope for the best, it is a gamble but one I feel is worth trying.

@tooblue 

@chakster,@nandric, you two guys never get tired of saying the same thing over and over again, for what it is worth, I got it as everyone else probably has got it as well, point made, now let's move on.

right, i wish we could stop 

 I have had several cartridges rebuilt by SS with their Ruby/Optimum Line Contact diamond and they definitely sounded better than stock, these were a Shelter 901, Shelter 90X, Shelter 501, Lyra Helikon and a Lyra Helikin SL so I feel quite good about taking a chance that has saved me $5,000.00 in one attemp.

ohh, you're so in love with one type of third-party cantilever on all your carts and you don't have SoundSmith cartridge yet ? 

I also like Ruby cantilevers, but the original Ruby made by Grace, Dynavector, Klipsch for their cartridges. They are all different by the way. 

There is no universal cantilver/stylus for all cartridges, so personally i don't believe SoundSmith Ruby/Optim LineContact is better than the original design (just a common sense). No probs if it worked for you and all your cartridges.  

@chakster, so glad you don't have a problem with it, I can rest easy now.

@chakster, the picture of the cantilever/stylus assembly you posted is for which ZYX? Thanks for posting that, a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

@lewm 

Lew: I think your post above (and Jonathan Carr's similar advice from 2013) in retipping with "like for like" is very important. 

I've retipped 5 different cartridges with two different retippers in the past 6-7 years with 3 different cantilever materials (ruby, sapphire and boron) and 3 different stylus profiles. But all of the stylus profiles were line contact or microridge. 

Only anecdotal based on my experience but I think that if you are switching from one pretty exotic stylus profile to another (FG, various line contact or microridge, shibata, etc.) as opposed to switching from a conical to the more extreme profiles (ie. retipping something like a Denon 103R with a line contact stylus is a pretty major improvment IMO), that a change in cantilever material will probably have more of an effect in changing the personality of the cartridge.

I think this is where some run into problems with retips as the personality can change dramatically and one might be disappointed; on the other hand due to subjective listening preferences another listener may in fact prefer that exact same "personality change" and prefer the retipped version and feel the cartridge is improved. It's just the nature of our hobby.  

I tend to share my preference for boron cantilevers with JCarr, so while I feel one might get a performance boost moving from an aluminum cantilever to either ruby/sapphire, I'd be reluctant to replace any boron cantilever with something other than boron. But I can fully understand how someone might actually prefer the other options. 

At this stage I'm partial to boron/microridge in terms of what it brings to the table and can see myself sticking with that option in the future even if the cartridge was originally voiced with something else. That may not meet with a "purist" point of view but at least my decision on that is grounded in some experience and my own subjective preferences.