Ortofon

I have an Ortofon Jubilee, on its way out. I have had it 2 years, at the price these things just dont last long enough so I am looking for something at a more reasonable cost. I can get the Denon DLS 1 from USA for around £400 any comments. I could get the Jubilee re tipped £425. Also I keep seeing comments about a guy in Germany doing Ortofon at sensible prices, but I never get a link or manage to find it on line.

 

William Thakker is the name of the guy in Germany who sells Ortofons, I think - a link to his ebay page, although prices are higher than the last time I looked, possibly due to him being forced to raise them?

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZwilliamthakkerQQhtZ-1QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1QQrdZ0?

Is the re-tipping price you mention based on Ortofon doing it? If so, may be worth having a word with Expert Stylus as they would probably be cheaper, and are very good apparently.

I'm not familiar with the character of the Denon you mention but I have been very happy with my Denon DL-103r, purchased from Audio Cubes at a price of about £140.00 including shipping. I originally used an Ortofon Kontrapunkt 'b', then replaced it with an Audio Technica OC9mlII, then the Denon, and the Denon has a fuller sound which I think comes closer to the Kontrapunkt but without the higher price. I've also heard good things about the Audio Technica AT33PTG but haven't had a chance to hear one yet - it may be where I go next when the Denon has about 6/700 hours on it.

 

The re tipping is by Len Gregory The Cartridge Man, who is reckoned to be the proffesor of cartridge re building.I will look into Expert Stylus thanks for that.How many hours are these supposed to last anyway. I reckon I have had around 800 Hrs on the Jubilee working on around 8 Hrs a week, but I cant be certain. I also had the Kon.b. but the Jubilee is much better especially the bottom end detail. But so it should be at the price. I got it for £850 trade in from Mantra in Feb 2005. You will be lucky to get one for less than £1100 now. Its just too much money really every 2 years. So it will either be re tipping or something less expensive.

 

Just for info, the standard price for a new Jubilee on trade in is around £825