Post by Graham on Feb 26, 2017 9:35:40 GMT 12
An interesting feature of most Audio Technica cartridges/styluses ( is there such a word ?) is the fact that the cantilever is secured into the stylus body with a tiny grubscrew. This means that if someone wanted to they could replace just the cantilever.
For no real reason other than to prove to myself that it could be done I have performed this transplant.
I recently scored off Trade Me an Audio Technica AT12XE with a munted stylus for $5.
Also in my box of bits I had a genuine AT stylus of unknown model that had a very nice fine tapered cantilever and elliptical diamond.
From the photos you will see the threaded boss which has the grubscrew inside. This is usually sealed with some sort of glue or just paint, so the first task is to carefully dig this out with a very fine screwdriver. Once the slot head of grubscrew is exposed the same tiny screwdriver can then unscrew it about 1/2 to one turn.
The cantilever can then be carefully pulled out and the donor replacement installed in its place.
The two V shaped ears make alignment fairly simple, as aligning just the diamond would be almost impossible even using a microscope.
The grub screw is carefully tightened up again to complete the operation.
It fitted back onto the cartridge just fine and tests on my longsuffering Dual 721 proved that it not only worked but sounds great!! 
Cheers
