Chris
24-01-2018, 19:02
As I was expecting to send my paratrace Troika back to Esco or Goldring for a retip soon (no treble after 8 years light use) I was mulling over buying a replacement to tide me over. Then, reading a Spanish forum, I learned of an Italian guy who retips at very reasonable prices. Given the expense of MCs and retipping them I often wonder how MMs might sound through my system today (valve phono) so I dug out my ancient A&R P77 and my slightly younger Rega Elys ( cantilever well off centre and stuck) and sent them off to said gent in Italy hoping perhaps to salvage one of them. I had stuck the P77 stylus assembly with Loctite (Thanks Mr. Hughes) which made necessary a hurried explanation over the web to Maurizio who it would seem has a special liquid to loosen said adhesive.
Well, in the end, and after consulting with me for my OK, he fitted a hyper elliptical to my P77 and sorted my Rega cantilever problem so I now have 2 "reserves".
The trouble is that I am not so sure the P77 is in fact a reserve any longer. I fitted it into my Ittok last Saturday afternoon, you know, a rush job - no daylight etc.so the adjustment can and will be improved upon - I didn´t even look whether the arm was parallel or not, or at the right height for VTA - and the 30 odd year old little gem (sorry) sounds amazing. Gone is the oh so warm bass and I now have treble that I had forgotten all about and I swear I am now in no hurry to send my Troika off to the UK. This now poses the quandary over whether to entrust Maurizio with my Troika and forget about mineral cantilevers and generator rebuilds and just get this HE tip onto my Troika and spend the saving elsewhere.
Funnily enough, while the 2 cartridges were away for 3 or 4 months - the process took this long because his son was born in the interim, he did try the HE tip on the Rega and said it didn´t gel, much preferring the results with the A&R.
can´t wait to really check the set up to see if I can get the last touch of class and repose which is the only thing in which the Troika excels over the MM as far as I am concerned or can discern so far.
Well, in the end, and after consulting with me for my OK, he fitted a hyper elliptical to my P77 and sorted my Rega cantilever problem so I now have 2 "reserves".
The trouble is that I am not so sure the P77 is in fact a reserve any longer. I fitted it into my Ittok last Saturday afternoon, you know, a rush job - no daylight etc.so the adjustment can and will be improved upon - I didn´t even look whether the arm was parallel or not, or at the right height for VTA - and the 30 odd year old little gem (sorry) sounds amazing. Gone is the oh so warm bass and I now have treble that I had forgotten all about and I swear I am now in no hurry to send my Troika off to the UK. This now poses the quandary over whether to entrust Maurizio with my Troika and forget about mineral cantilevers and generator rebuilds and just get this HE tip onto my Troika and spend the saving elsewhere.
Funnily enough, while the 2 cartridges were away for 3 or 4 months - the process took this long because his son was born in the interim, he did try the HE tip on the Rega and said it didn´t gel, much preferring the results with the A&R.
can´t wait to really check the set up to see if I can get the last touch of class and repose which is the only thing in which the Troika excels over the MM as far as I am concerned or can discern so far.