Visit VAS, Cliffwood, NJ

[Formerly YB-2]

I have a couple of cartridges I want to sell and decided they were worthy of a check-up by Steve Leung at his company VAS. As is only 90min up the road, a friend and I paid Steve a visit to drop off the carts and see Steve's operation. To put it in a word............. amazing. Steve is not just a consummate cartridge guru, he is collector of pretty much everything audio. We listened to his redone Denon 103 with a wood body on a 12" VPI TA on a tweaked fly-wheel drive TNT and it was amazing how well done it was thru his SUT into an ARC preamp and a pair of Steve's H-K monoblock amps driving a pair of B&W 802D3s. I can say without a doubt that this was the best I've ever heard a pair of B&W speakers sound.
And.......... Steve convinced me that I should let him work on my Lyra Kleos and to put a new stylus in my Dynavector XX2 MKII. I've not thought that highly of either and he promises that his magic will transform them.
Steve has 40,000+ LPs and just slightly less in vintage & new gear (well.... 100 pieces of gear, or so) between his shop and home. Some amazing pieces, like original WE 300B amps made for the cinema and the military.
A really fun visit, topped off with a visit to VPI, which is next door.

[miner]

Steve rebuilt my Ortofon Cadenza Black and it came back better than new. I also have a VAS Nova specialty built for Harry W. at VPI and it is an outstanding cartridge. Steve does great work.

[Formerly YB-2]

Steve says that my Kleos will be as good as the Etna when I get it back. He is going to rebuild from the motor out (new boron cantilever & stylus).
Plus, he is a Dynavector fan and said I will be very happy with the new stylus he will mount on the existing cantilever on my XX2 MKII.

I walked in expecting to spend $100 for the check-up of the two carts before selling and walked out having spent $1000. I'm weak.............

[Formerly YB-2]

Here is a short video of Steve's B&W 802D2 system. It is superb.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zBQRr2gQa-o