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In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Thank you, Sir! May I have another (MC-3000 II)?
Post Subject: Replacing the “Irreplaceable” Replicant StylusPosted by Paul S on: 6/29/2024
As I mentioned up the thread, I bought the Ortofon
MC3000II cartridge and T3000 SUT new in 2002. Eleven years later, in 2013, I
had the cartridge totally rebuilt by Ortofon, at their factory in Denmark. The
cartridge came back from that re-build looking and sounding like new, and Ortofon
reinstated the original warranty after The Fix. Very Nice, and I certainly would
have done it again if Ortofon still offered the service. But they no longer
support or even talk much about their old “1000” line of cartridges and
“companion” SUTs, once their Pride and Joy, since replaced with new cartridge
offerings ranging in price to over $10,000.00, with a smattering of down-spec’d,
one-size-fits-all SUTs. For all I know, these cartridges and SUTs might be the
best-sounding they’ve ever sold. But I actually voiced and built my system
around the MC3000II/T3000 pairing, and I have been loath to just chuck it in
favor of something new and unknown-to-me, regardless of what anyone else says
about it. As told in this thread, my MC3000II suffered injury in 2021, and I
sent it to Steve Leung/VAS, where the damper was replaced and two cut coil
wires were fixed, and the MC3000II came back sounding great. All-too-fast
forward to 2024, and I’ve found myself thinking that the sound from my analog is
softening due to stylus wear over the past 11 years. I mean, that’s a while,
right? As much as I hate shopping for hi-fi stuff, I started looking for
alternative cartridges, and also SUTs, since there are very few new cartridges
that would work with my T3000, and none I found that could work that I thought
I might like. One idea I chased involved a Bob’s Devices SUT, and during a
quick (and rather surprising…) exchange with Bob Satin he suggested I try
having the MC3000II “re-tipped” by Andy Kim (Needle Clinic), here in
California. Hmmm… If it worked, I should be able to stay with my current T3000
SUT… To make a short story even shorter, Andy offered a money-back guarantee,
and I sent him my MC3000II. I opted for a Namiki Microridge stylus mounted on a
Boron cantilever tip that would be splined onto most of the current MC3000II
Boron cantilever (to the appropriate length, of course…). Could this “work”?
Are you feeling Lucky? The core of my “reasoning” here is that the Namiki
Microridge is another “extreme”/”hard tracing” profile that is in that sense
similar to the Replicant. And – as it happens – I have developed a proprietary
Repeatable VTA system that will ensure optimal tracking once VTA for any LP is
set by eye and ear and the thickness of that LP is noted and tied to the best-sounding
arm height. After that, the arm height/VTA can be reliably re-set for any LP,
based on the LP’s thickness. Yes, I’ve been through all this before, but here
it is again, apropos of optimizing a re-tipped MC3000II. Turnaround time was
FAST! I sent my cartridge to Andy on Thursday,
June 20th. Andy received it on Saturday morning, and by Saturday afternoon he’d
fitted the new stylus. Done! He mailed the re-tipped cartridge back on Monday, June
24, and I got it midday on Wednesday, the 26th. Truly Amazing! I don’t have a
stereo microscope, but the cartridge looked/looks just fine through a 40X jeweler’s
loupe, really no sign it’s been worked on, except I’m thinking the new stylus
is smaller than the Replicant. To start, I installed it just as before,
including overhang, offset, arm height, azimuth, VTF, anti-skate, and damping.
I used a test LP for a round of “empirical” testing and adjusting, to make sure
I was in the Ballpark, then on to Music LPs I know well. As far as the sound of
the re-tipped MC3000II, surprise(!), it is very much like the original
cartridge, only better highs and lows, and more clarity across the board,
without the problems that can come with “more”. As I have listened to Music I
have been able to home in on azimuth and anti-skate, as the MR stylus is quite
sensitive to its set-up parameters, as I suspected it would be. Not that it
sounds bad if it’s not spot-on, rather it rewards careful set-up with truly
wonderful Sound, and if one wants to hear its best then accurate set up is
required. Something it has not changed about my system is that recordings still
sound like what they are… recordings. There is not some sort of own sound that
swamps recordings to “Make Everything Magical”. It does make the most of
recordings, however, and a nice bonus is that “space” in recordings is quieter
than before, which contributes to the clarity I mentioned and also to better
spatial cues. Another bonus is how mechanically quiet this stylus is in the grooves, quieter
than the very quiet Replicant.
Gotta say, it worked out very well indeed for me to have
Andy re-tip my MC3000II. If he’s still re-tipping in another 11 years, I’ll do
it again!
Paul S
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