[mulveling]

Quote:

Just a little update.
 
I re-aligned the A90 with the Feickert Alignment Protractor which really made the midrange come alive, adding an amazing and unrivalled sense of detail. It also highlighted that the rest of my system is really tipped to brightness, something I need to ameliorate.

I've had a bit of trouble with brightness myself, with both the Jubilee and Windfeld. It's lessened with the Kontra c, and completely gone with the Benz Ref or Koetsu Onyx. Tried the whole range of VTA and loading combinations. If anything, my speakers are warm by nature, so I was down to thinking it might be a problem with matching the top Ortofons with my heavy (20g effective mass) Japanese arm.

 

[Gazza]

I think it's my speakers because I listened to a few records last night via my 650 and the top end wasn't bright at all. My room is really the biggest problem.

 

[ortofoninc]

I know you have an RB-300, but if you ever have the chance to get the VTA mod kit, you could definitely make some subtle adjustments that will help to get the most out of the very extreme Replicant 100 diamond.  This might help to even out the sound a bit.
 
I'm sure you're already extremely well versed in cartridges to have picked the A90, but you can definitely use the built in resistor jumper-block to drop the loading to a lower value.  On your phonostage, maybe try putting 3+4+5+6 switches in the on position, as that will drop your loading to 99 ohms.  Might tame any unwanted brightness once the cartridge is fully broken in.
 

 

[Hisssss Royal Hignesssss]

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[GuyDebord]

Gazza, perhaps, if you dont want to spend a lot more for now, you should seriously consider the Michell tecnoweight and VTA adjuster (you would be doing a great favor to the A90) and it should definitely help with the brightness. Another upgrade option is the Incognito rewire kit which should also help.

When I had a Michell Orbe, It had an RB300 which I slowly upgraded with the Incognito and Michell tecnoweight and VTA adjuster. I was really astounded with the performance of it, it bettered everything! night and day...

 

[ortofoninc]

Quote:

How did your "old" Kontrapunkt C die? Did the suspension sag/break? It's a failure so common (not a matter IF, but WHEN it will fail) in these cartrdiges that it should be considered a desgin flaw, and one that should not be tolerated imho. 

 
With all due respect, I've been with Ortofon for 4 years now and have not heard a single thing about suspension issues on the Kontrapunkt or Jubilee cartridges.  The one time I heard about this happening was with a product that was gray market and purchased from a retailer who was not an authorized dealer.  Needless to say, the person was not able to claim warranty status from us because it wasn't even purchased in the USA. 
 
I think that to claim that it is a "failure so common that it should be considered a design flaw" is a bit irresponsible on your part.  Out of the thousands of these that were sold worldwide over the course of the better part of a decade, it is strange indeed that we've almost never experienced this issue aside from once.  Another thing to mention is that cartridges are notoriously delicate, which is why we stand behind our product with a warranty when it is purchased from an authorized retailer.  That way, if there are ever any problems which arise from what is suspected to be a defect, that we can address them.
 
I should also mention that I own a Kontrapunkt personally and also have not had any trouble.  I'm sorry to hear that your cartridge had an issue, but please don't make blanket statements that aren't true.

 

[Hisssss Royal Hignesssss]

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[J-Pak]

 
Quote:

 
With all due respect, I've been with Ortofon for 4 years now and have not heard a single thing about suspension issues on the Kontrapunkt or Jubilee cartridges.  The one time I heard about this happening was with a product that was gray market and purchased from a retailer who was not an authorized dealer.  Needless to say, the person was not able to claim warranty status from us because it wasn't even purchased in the USA. 
 
I think that to claim that it is a "failure so common that it should be considered a design flaw" is a bit irresponsible on your part.  Out of the thousands of these that were sold worldwide over the course of the better part of a decade, it is strange indeed that we've almost never experienced this issue aside from once.  Another thing to mention is that cartridges are notoriously delicate, which is why we stand behind our product with a warranty when it is purchased from an authorized retailer.  That way, if there are ever any problems which arise from what is suspected to be a defect, that we can address them.
 
I should also mention that I own a Kontrapunkt personally and also have not had any trouble.  I'm sorry to hear that your cartridge had an issue, but please don't make blanket statements that aren't true.

How does one go about retipping/rebuilding the A90 if it's bought from an authorized dealer? And any estimation on the number of hours this stylus profile is good for? thanks

 

[Gazza]

Thanks for the responses, folks. Just so you know, I'm not saying the cartridge is bright at all, if anything the cartridge has absolutely no character of its own. The A90 sounds like the rest of my stereo, nothing more, nothing less and that's exactly how it should be.
 
I listened to Probot's self-titled release last night that I have on vinyl and it sounded phenomenal. The A90 managed to bring out the old-school nature of the recording while at the same time making it sound utterly real. It's like someone had invited Wino, Lemmy, Snake, Chronos and co 'round my place for a jam session.
 
Unfortunately, the Ortofon is giving me dark thoughts about upgrading to a better phonostage (preferably tubed) and better headphones.
 
Curse you, Audiophile disease!

 

[ortofoninc]

Quote:

How does one go about retipping/rebuilding the A90 if it's bought from an authorized dealer? And any estimation on the number of hours this stylus profile is good for? thanks

You should be able to get an easy 1,000 hours our of a Replicant 100 if your records are kept in good condition.
 
As far as retipping, it varies depending on which distributor you are serviced by, but the MSRP in the USA for a retip is $2,000.  The A90 is the only cartridge that Ortofon will retip.

 

[ortofoninc]

The fact remains, cartridges are notoriously delicate instruments.  So much as dropping the tonearm and bouncing the stylus can damage the suspension, and this is true for any high end cartridge.  Furthermore, when your product is 10 times more prevalent out there than the nearest competitor, the instances in which you can measure "failure" by searching audiophile forums is going to also be increased to scale.
 
Products like the Kontrapunkt do not enjoy a 10 year lifespan and sales exceeding thousands of units worldwide if they suffer from debilitating design flaws.  I have nothing to hide here, in fact the Kontrapunkt was discontinued last year, and has been superseded by a new cartridge line called Cadezna.
 
Maybe it is better that you stay off this forum, if all you're going to do is trash people's products which you don't have firsthand experience with.  This is a forum about helping each other make educated audio decisions, not about trashing audio manufacturers of which you've heard wildly unsubstantiated rumors about.  Maybe you should try to head up an audio forum at 4chan or something.
 
 
 
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Sigh.... figures someone with named "Ortofoninc" would post somethink like this, is it really so hard to swallow that LOADS of people are experience trouble with a product you like? I do not own a Kontrapunkt, I got this information from an Ortofon Dealer: Several Dutch dealers have stopped selling these cartridges because they ALL came back with broken suspension, some within a month, others took a few years. You could also use google, and find dozens of reports and forum topics about it, some have traded in their Kontrapunkts as much a 5 times, and they all keep breaking.
 
I would have done it for you if I though this forum had any potential, but after reading MOST what was reccomended to me as "a  highly informative  technical forum about your hobby" (headphones), I've come to the conclusion this is a generic chatroom for audiophiles to ramble on about their delusions and fanboyism. Not much knowledge, just a lot of people bickering about system matching, cables and sound signatures. And to top it all off: a restriciton on mentioning certain words....
 
 
Have fun peepz....
 
i'M GETTING TO DA CHOPPA........

 

[mulveling]

Between myself and local friends I know of 2 Kontrapunkts, 3 Jubilees, and 1 Windfeld - each in use for > 1 year. None of them have displayed any defects. Nor have I heard of any defects from my trustworthy former dealer (he closed up shop this year). Nor have I heard any buzz about problems with Kontrapunkt cantilevers (though I have heard buzz of problems with other manufacturers) - are you sure you're not referencing vapor?
 
That first Jubilee died when a guest's kid plucked the cantilever right out (not my Jubilee, not my kid). My other friend's Jubilee died when the stylus snagged on his sweater's fibers. Ortofon went well above and beyond on a warranty claim (because the stylus glue let go before the cantilever, which is apparently not how it was designed to break), though it took at least a few months - apparently this was slowed by a lengthy annual vacation. I must say though, I'm not a fan of the retip/exchange policy at Ortofon - others do offer better.
 
I might be leaning to a warmer sound lately, but my friends dig a fast neutral sound and they're in love with the top Ortofons. In my experience they're a great company to deal with.

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

You should be able to get an easy 1,000 hours our of a Replicant 100 if your records are kept in good condition.
 
As far as retipping, it varies depending on which distributor you are serviced by, but the MSRP in the USA for a retip is $2,000.  The A90 is the only cartridge that Ortofon will retip.

Thanks I do appreciate the response! Do you feel 1000 hours stylus life is a bit low, considering line contact stylii from Zyx, Dynavector, Koetsu, etc are good for a minimum of 3000 hours on clean records?

 

[Gazza]

I'd be surprised if I didn't get 2000 hours out of my A90.

 

[ortofoninc]

It's not at all atypical to see these things getting far over 1,000 hours.  Shoot, there are people call me with their 30 year old MC cartridges who are just now getting around to realizing that it could use replacing. 

 
However, since it's impossible to quantify such an elusive thing like stylus hours, we stick with a pretty low figure of 1,000 hours. 
 
Of course everything is contingent on how well you take care of your records, and how well the cartridge is setup to start with.  Diamond wear tends to become less of an issue when the wear is evenly spread over each of the diamond's contact surfaces.