I was visiting an old friend last week and was pleased to see he had got himself an Akiva which sounded really good.Towards the end of the night the cartridge had picked up so much dirt it slid across the record and from then on sounded so terrible that we couldn't play it(we had nothing to clean it).He took it back to the dealer.Speaking to him this morning he was sure the stylus had come away from the cantilever. :shock: Is that possible?

I have never seen an Akiva that has lost the stylus tip but it is possible. I have seen any number of styli over the years where either the diamond was missing of the cantilever itself was broken with the tip gone. Some early Dynavector Ruby cartridges would loose their diamonds after a long listening session.

Since the Akiva has a Boron cantilever it would likely take a lot of force to break it. If the diamond is actually missing my best guess is that it was manufactured improperly with not enough of the adhesive that holds the diamond to the cantilever. Again, I have never experienced this on an Akiva or on a Boron Arkive.

Thanks Thomas my feeling is that there is so much of that sticky gunk he cant see the stylus,I find it hard to understand how a dealer can take £1800 from him and not give him at least a wee brush to clean it

ThomasOK wrote:I have never seen an Akiva that has lost the stylus tip but it is possible. I have seen any number of styli over the years where either the diamond was missing of the cantilever itself was broken with the tip gone. Some early Dynavector Ruby cartridges would loose their diamonds after a long listening session.

Since the Akiva has a Boron cantilever it would likely take a lot of force to break it. If the diamond is actually missing my best guess is that it was manufactured improperly with not enough of the adhesive that holds the diamond to the cantilever. Again, I have never experienced this on an Akiva or on a Boron Arkive.

Just found this particular post, and I may have experienced this exact situation. In order to know for sure, I will be taking my Sondek to ThomasOK for proper confirmation.

But when I lowered my tonearm onto the album, there was terrible sound and the tonearm began sliding across the record. After taking a closer look with magnification, the diamond appears to be completely gone :!:

So as a result, I had to place an order for another Akiva cartridge . After removing the current broken cartridge and installing a new Akiva, ThomasOK will send the broken Akiva to Linn for an analysis.

Before purchasing the Akiva, I owned a Linn Klyde moving coil cartridge for somewhere between seven and nine years...with no such problems. In fact, the Klyde had a long life remaining when it was sold.

In short, I really hope this particular Akiva cartridge was manufactured improperly :!: However, in the meantime, this situation will require another long road trip, and for now, an additional unexpected expense :!:

My new Akiva cartridge just arrived at the shop 8) . Looking forward to knowing what happened to the original Akiva :!: Getting ready for another long road trip, but it will be worth the effort. ThomasOK will be upgrading my new preamplifier also.

Tony Tune-age wrote:My new Akiva cartridge just arrived at the shop 8) . Looking forward to knowing what happened to the original Akiva :!: Getting ready for another long road trip, but it will be worth the effort. ThomasOK will be upgrading my new preamplifier also.

Just got back from my long road trip, and as usual, it was a learning experience 8) . Apparently the diamond didn't drop out, but the cantilever broke at the pivot-point.

Fortunately, the Akiva has been going through improvements since it's introduction. Apparently there is a new part which essentially increases the cartridge cantilever strength (or something like that). In any case, the new Akiva sounds a little better than my previous version. Needless to say, all is good on the "home front :!: "

In addition to installing the new Akiva cartridge, ThomasOK aligned the inner platter with the outter platter. This was an interesting process and provided some overall sonic improvement with the Sondek (better detail, better bass notes, better timing). Plus, he adjusted the screw tension of the hinge brackets attached to the plinth. I was surprised to hear the sonic differences as these adjustments were implemented.

Fine tuning the Sondek continues to be a learning process, and a very rewarding experience as well. As time goes by, I continue to be more pleased with the Linn Sondek. The options are vast and any version can be adjusted to sound excellent :!: The Sondek turntable is the heart of my audio system, and as such, the wisest purchase as well 8) .