GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Thank you, Sir! May I have another (MC-3000 II)?

Post Subject: Back, and Better Than Ever (I hope...)Posted by Paul S on: 6/1/2013

It wound up taking 9 weeks to get my re-built cartridge back from/through the Ortofon DK/USA consortium, and then I let the re-built cartridge just sit there in is box for another 2 weeks. When I finally went to re-mount it, I managed to snap a very fine wire at a cartridge clip, which subsequently entailed getting out the 808 (de-soldering gun), and the iron, and the holding jig, etc, ad nauseum. But I took a deep breath and fixed the wire/clip; then I carefully re-mounted the cartridge and re-set all its alignment parameters, including VTF, all the while assuming that the height of the "new" cartridge would wind up pretty close to what it was before. Of course, it will take a while for the cartridge to break in, before I can be sure about the exact effective height of the re-built cartridge, itself. But now that I have my relative VTA/SRA system all worked out, once I fine tune the arm height by ear on a record of known thickness, all settings fall into place, based on the unchanging relationship between record thickness and arm height, acccording to the charts and "dials" I made up years ago (see the thread, "At Last, Repeatable VTA!".

As for the sound of the re-built cartridge, it is a good deal quieter in the groove than the old one was by the time I pulled it. In fact, it is remarkably quiet. It also has better "interstitual" silence, and better/clearer articulation, from top to bottom. And none of this surprises me, since I probably had over 1,000 hours on the old cartridge before I figured out the Repeatable VTA system! If nothing else, I will at least "get my money's worth" now that I know how to use the damned cartridge correctly from the get-go.

There has been too much going on in my house lately for me to get involved with my music, and the electricity has been uniformly lousy for over a year now. Still, there are signs that I did the right thing, and I very much look forward to having access to my LPs again! It's not that I hate digital; but it is the case that I choose digital only for convenience or to access programs that are unique to CDs in my library.

At this point I would "recommend" the Ortofon factory cartridge re-build to those trying to save money (vs. a new Ortofon cartridge) or to those who wish to restore a "classic" Ortofon cartridge that is no longer offered for sale new.

So far, so good...

Paul S

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