Fantastic Service by Mehran Farahmand of Sora Sound

[Ron Resnick]

This thread is to report on an amazing experience with a distributor who set the bar very high on what we consumers should hope for from high-end audio industry professionals selling us components. I believe strongly in giving credit where credit is due.

Several years ago I purchased from an authorized ZYX dealer a ZYX UNIverse Premium cartridge. The cartridge was untouched for years after purchase pending the arrival of my turntable set-up.

Years after purchase I sent the cartridge to J.R. Boisclair of WAM Engineering for analysis. J.R. determined that the SRA of the cartridge was out of whack by several degrees. By this time the warranty on the cartridge had long expired.

I first contacted my dealer to report J.R.'s findings. Despite J.R.'s objective measurements, my dealer disputed that there was anything wrong with the cartridge. My dealer said that because he was able to set up the cartridge and get from it sound with which he was happy J.R. didn't know what he was talking about. In contrast to the dealer's response, the response of Mehran Farahmand, the proprietor of Sora Sound -- which is the U.S. importer and distributor of ZYX cartridges -- could not have been more helpful, comforting and heartwarming.

Mehran assured me firmly that he would do whatever it takes to resolve this situation to my complete satisfaction. Mehran 1) offered to get the cartridge evaluated and, if necessary, repaired by ZYX in Japan, and 2) offered regardless of the outcome of the analysis by ZYX in Japan to put me into another ZYX cartridge at an extremely favorable price.

From the moment I expressed consternation about the poorly measuring cartridge Mehran was very communicative both via email and on the telephone. He assured me repeatedly that he would do whatever it takes to make me happy in whichever direction I chose to go.

I sent the cartridge to Mehran. (Mehran offered to pay for the shipping but I did not take him up on that gracious offer.) Mehran sent the cartridge to ZYX in Japan at his expense.

I understand that ZYX in Japan rebuilt the cartridge into an essentially new cartridge. This fact endorses J.R.'s analysis. (Setting up a cartridge and getting subjectively satisfactory sound is a different question than the question of the objective physical construction characteristics of the cartridge.)

Even though my cartridge was years out of warranty Mehran handled my cartridge problem in the best way I could have hoped for. I now have essentially a brand new, properly manufactured cartridge.

I just wanted to recognize publicly the extremely professional, classy and comforting way in which may Mehran handled every aspect of this matter.

Bravo, Mehran! Thank you!

 

[jazdoc]

Always great to hear about the good guys in the hobby/business. Thanks for sharing!

 

[tima]

Kudos to Mehran !!

J.R. determined that the SRA of the cartridge was out of whack by several degrees.

What does this mean? Does ZYX give a specification for stylus rake angle?

 

[Young Skywalker]

A great outcome and superb service from Mehran.

It is concerning that the cartridge was so poorly built in the first instance. One wonders how common this is. Is ignorance bliss for the vinyl perfectionist? Perhaps JR could shed some light on those manufacturers, based on his experience, with reliably high cartridge build quality? Ortofon? Audio Technica? DS Audio? Perhaps a subject for another thread?

 

[XV-1]

This thread is to report on an amazing experience with a distributor who set the bar very high on what we consumers should hope for from high-end audio industry professionals selling us components. I believe strongly in giving credit where credit is due.

Several years ago I purchased from an authorized ZYX dealer a ZYX UNIverse Premium cartridge. The cartridge was untouched for years after purchase pending the arrival of my turntable set-up.

Years after purchase I sent the cartridge to J.R. Boisclair of WAM Engineering for analysis. J.R. determined that the SRA of the cartridge was out of whack by several degrees. By this time the warranty on the cartridge had long expired.

I first contacted my dealer to report J.R.'s findings. Despite J.R.'s objective measurements, my dealer disputed that there was anything wrong with the cartridge. My dealer said that because he was able to set up the cartridge and get from it sound with which he was happy J.R. didn't know what he was talking about. In contrast to the dealer's response, the response of Mehran Farahmand, the proprietor of Sora Sound -- which is the U.S. importer and distributor of ZYX cartridges -- could not have been more helpful, comforting and heartwarming.

Mehran assured me firmly that he would do whatever it takes to resolve this situation to my complete satisfaction. Mehran 1) offered to get the cartridge evaluated and, if necessary, repaired by ZYX in Japan, and 2) offered regardless of the outcome of the analysis by ZYX in Japan to put me into another ZYX cartridge at an extremely favorable price.

From the moment I expressed consternation about the poorly measuring cartridge Mehran was very communicative both via email and on the telephone. He assured me repeatedly that he would do whatever it takes to make me happy in whichever direction I chose to go.

I sent the cartridge to Mehran. (Mehran offered to pay for the shipping but I did not take him up on that gracious offer.) Mehran sent the cartridge to ZYX in Japan at his expense.

I understand that ZYX in Japan rebuilt the cartridge into an essentially new cartridge. This fact endorses J.R.'s analysis. (Setting up a cartridge and getting subjectively satisfactory sound is a different question than the question of the objective physical construction characteristics of the cartridge.)

Even though my cartridge was years out of warranty Mehran handled my cartridge problem in the best way I could have hoped for. I now have essentially a brand new, properly manufactured cartridge.

I just wanted to recognize publicly the extremely professional, classy and comforting way in which may Mehran handled every aspect of this matter.

Bravo, Mehran! Thank you!

Did ZYX agree that the cartridge was out of spec?

Has JR remeasured the cartridge?

 

[PeterA]

I now have essentially a brand new, properly manufactured cartridge.

Ron, has this new or rebuilt cartridge been inspected by J. R. so that you can be confident that it is now a "properly manufactured cartridge" which I assume means that it will not need an SRA or azimuth correcting brass shim interface with your tonearm's headshell?

 

[Iamrael]

Hi Ron,
I think it’s fantastic that Sora stepped up and handled this situation for you Ron. I would hope that if the same circumstances happened to an “outsider” that the same course of action would have been taken. It very well could have, but I don’t think that one can assume this is the case and that likely the bar was set for “thee and not we”
If you were in possession of the cartridge for the time it sat idle and you were the one that shipped the cartridge to have evaluated Sora would not be able to maintain any margin goals if this is the way “normal” business was handled.
On the flip side, Sora is getting good PR and endorsement.

 

[buzzlulu]

I have seen no one mention anything about your dealers response.
I assume you are no longer happy having him as a dealer?

 

[PeterA]

Ron, has this new or rebuilt cartridge been inspected by J. R. so that you can be confident that it is now a "properly manufactured cartridge" which I assume means that it will not need an SRA or azimuth correcting brass shim interface with your tonearm's headshell?

I just noticed that you are selling the cartridge. Did you send it to J. R. to be checked out? It might be fun to compare it to your Opus 1 to see which you prefer.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/classifieds/zyx-universe-premium-x-sb2-cartridge.1085/

 

[PeterA]

Hi Ron,
I think it’s fantastic that Sora stepped up and handled this situation for you Ron. I would hope that if the same circumstances happened to an “outsider” that the same course of action would have been taken. It very well could have, but I don’t think that one can assume this is the case and that likely the bar was set for “thee and not we”
If you were in possession of the cartridge for the time it sat idle and you were the one that shipped the cartridge to have evaluated Sora would not be able to maintain any margin goals if this is the way “normal” business was handled.
On the flip side, Sora is getting good PR and endorsement.

This story is a successful conclusion Ron.

If I came across this thread and owned a ZYX cartridge, I would think about sending it to J. R. for inspection. If it had any issues, I would then send it to Mehran for adjustment.

Michael Fremer has been suggesting returning expensive out of spec cartridges for a while. With J. R.’s inspection service and distributors like Mehran, the audiophile will be well served.

Personally I would rather have a well made cartridge than one requiring a shim interface correcting for a parameter out of spec. The effect of such shims may be audible and change the intended sound of these expensive cartridges, for better or worse.

 

[XV-1]

I just noticed that you are selling the cartridge. Did you send it to J. R. to be checked out? It might be fun to compare it to your Opus 1 to see which you prefer.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/classifieds/zyx-universe-premium-x-sb2-cartridge.1085/

Hmmmmmm

You send a cartridge, out of warranty back to the distributor and he does the right thing by getting you a rebuilt/new one.
You then immediately put it up for sale. Hmmmm

Surely it should be checked by JR officially again, or one can assume it could be faulty again.

 

[Synaxis]

This thread is to report on an amazing experience with a distributor who set the bar very high on what we consumers should hope for from high-end audio industry professionals selling us components. I believe strongly in giving credit where credit is due.

Several years ago I purchased from an authorized ZYX dealer a ZYX UNIverse Premium cartridge. The cartridge was untouched for years after purchase pending the arrival of my turntable set-up.

Years after purchase I sent the cartridge to J.R. Boisclair of WAM Engineering for analysis. J.R. determined that the SRA of the cartridge was out of whack by several degrees. By this time the warranty on the cartridge had long expired.

I first contacted my dealer to report J.R.'s findings. Despite J.R.'s objective measurements, my dealer disputed that there was anything wrong with the cartridge. My dealer said that because he was able to set up the cartridge and get from it sound with which he was happy J.R. didn't know what he was talking about. In contrast to the dealer's response, the response of Mehran Farahmand, the proprietor of Sora Sound -- which is the U.S. importer and distributor of ZYX cartridges -- could not have been more helpful, comforting and heartwarming.

Mehran assured me firmly that he would do whatever it takes to resolve this situation to my complete satisfaction. Mehran 1) offered to get the cartridge evaluated and, if necessary, repaired by ZYX in Japan, and 2) offered regardless of the outcome of the analysis by ZYX in Japan to put me into another ZYX cartridge at an extremely favorable price.

From the moment I expressed consternation about the poorly measuring cartridge Mehran was very communicative both via email and on the telephone. He assured me repeatedly that he would do whatever it takes to make me happy in whichever direction I chose to go.

I sent the cartridge to Mehran. (Mehran offered to pay for the shipping but I did not take him up on that gracious offer.) Mehran sent the cartridge to ZYX in Japan at his expense.

I understand that ZYX in Japan rebuilt the cartridge into an essentially new cartridge. This fact endorses J.R.'s analysis. (Setting up a cartridge and getting subjectively satisfactory sound is a different question than the question of the objective physical construction characteristics of the cartridge.)

Even though my cartridge was years out of warranty Mehran handled my cartridge problem in the best way I could have hoped for. I now have essentially a brand new, properly manufactured cartridge.

I just wanted to recognize publicly the extremely professional, classy and comforting way in which may Mehran handled every aspect of this matter.

Bravo, Mehran! Thank you!

THIS is what I love to hear and I appreciate you sharing this Ron.

We collectively as an audio community need to do everything we can to support those who provide great customer service.

I will literally decide AGAINST buying a brand - even if I want that item (I just made such a decision this past week due to the lack of response to inquires from the US distributor or the company) as customer service and support is very important to me.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Does ZYX give a specification for stylus rake angle?

Did ZYX agree that the cartridge was out of spec?

I think J.R. would agree that this whole field is a morass. Individual manufacturers do not state specifications for cartridge parameters because the sample to sample variation of cartridges would make the specifications -- unless each parameter were defined in a ludicrously wide range of acceptability -- very difficult to satisfy.

There are no industry standards or ranges of acceptability for cartridge parameters. This is a big part of the problem.

By virtue of J.R.'s analysis of a large number of cartridges across many brands I believe that he has arrived at what he believes to be reasonable ranges of acceptability on various cartridge parameters.

Further questions on this topic should be directed to J.R.

The key for me is that ZYX effectively acknowledged an issue by remanufacturing the cartridge.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I just noticed that you are selling the cartridge. Did you send it to J. R. to be checked out?

You send a cartridge, out of warranty back to the distributor and he does the right thing by getting you a rebuilt/new one.
You then immediately put it up for sale.

Surely it should be checked by JR officially again

This process with the ZYX started in May. I did not know how long it would take.

Along the way I had an opportunity to purchase an Opus 1, a cartridge I have admired consistently for a long time. Presently I have only one tonearm, and the Opus 1 is on it.

My ZYX UNIverse Premium is now effectively brand new in the box. As soon as I open it and mount it on a tonearm it becomes "used" and is no longer effectively brand new in the box. So I have decided to keep it sealed for the time being as I evaluate the Opus 1. I listed my new ZYX for sale to see if I received any interest. I'm also very happy to keep it.

The UNIverse Premium model uses a boron cantilever. The UNIverse Premium model is no longer available. The newer models use diamond cantilevers. Reportedly this results sonically in higher resolution and greater retrieval of detail. But not every audiophile exults higher resolution and greater retrieval of detail above other sonic attributes. So, arguably, the UNIverse Premium model -- the sound of which I suspect I would prefer over the newer models -- is now unobtanium.

After dealing with a complaining customer on this matter I am sure Mr. ZYX was extremely careful in the remanufacturing of my cartridge, as he very likely assumed I would be sending it, too, to J.R. for analysis. If every time a cartridge manufacturer manufactured a cartridge assuming it would be sent to J.R. for analysis I am confident we would have far less sample to sample variation in cartridge parameters.

 

[spiritofmusic]

This story is a successful conclusion Ron.

If I came across this thread and owned a ZYX cartridge, I would think about sending it to J. R. for inspection. If it had any issues, I would then send it to Mehran for adjustment.

Michael Fremer has been suggesting returning expensive out of spec cartridges for a while. With J. R.’s inspection service and distributors like Mehran, the audiophile will be well served.

Personally I would rather have a well made cartridge than one requiring a shim interface correcting for a parameter out of spec. The effect of such shims may be audible and change the intended sound of these expensive cartridges, for better or worse.

Shims are *absolutely* audible, having now listened to my Straingauge with and without.
It's not subtle.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Personally I would rather have a well made cartridge than one requiring a shim interface correcting for a parameter out of spec.

The difficulty is the meaning of "out of spec." It can't be defined by, for example, as "92 degrees SRA," because then almost no cartridge would be "in spec."

I believe J.R. has kind of settled on plus or minus 3 degrees as his definition of "in spec." A friend of mine who is an extremely highly regarded manufacturer of turntables uses this range of acceptability himself when he evaluates cartridges he orders.

Even if a cartridge is within plus or minus 3 degrees J.R. still believes in correcting it with a small shim to get it closer to 92 degrees.

The effect of such shims may be audible and change the intended sound of these expensive cartridges, for better or worse.

I think this is an astute point -- I agree.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I have seen no one mention anything about your dealers response.

I suspect that my dealer is happy that I am now happy.

I assume you are no longer happy having him as a dealer?

No, this is not a correct assumption. My dealer simply has a different view on the whole matter of measuring the parameters of cartridges.

In this matter, as in many matters, I am able to disagree with somebody without considering him to be "wrong" and me to be "right."

 

[J.R. Boisclair]

Most of the questions above are answered in the following two videos on SRA and VTA. I argue that VTA is quite a bit more influential than SRA, though I cannot yet prove the claim. Watch the VTA video first.

Yes, of course, having a material between the cartridge and the headshell is not ideal. This is why we did multiple evaluations of what the sound of the material alone is by introducing the shim, but with no angular relationships to the surfaces. Just a flat shim. The sound of the white shim is a subtle introduction And tough to pinpoint with certainty how it changes the sound. I thought it MIGHT have resulted in a slight loss of detail, but wouldn’t stake my wallet on it. However, when you make the necessary VTA/SRA correction with the white shim (average of >3°) it becomes very clear that having the shim sounds a lot better than not.

The brass shim (with orthogonal surfaces) was actually preferred over not being there at all. This is likely because of the extra 6g mass it added. It brought noticeably better bass grip, imaging and clarity. You’ll see videos from me in the future champion high mass in tonearms and cartridges. The 8 Hz lower limit system resonance rule is an inhibitor to getting better sound for those of us who play at the high end of vinyl playback.

 

[spiritofmusic]

J.R., I've gone from 6mm of carbon fibre shims btwn cart and armwand to a Funk Firm Houdini cartridge isolator, same thickness.
Tremendous contrast.

 

[J.R. Boisclair]

J.R., I've gone from 6mm of carbon fibre shims btwn cart and armwand to a Funk Firm Houdini cartridge isolator, same thickness.
Tremendous contrast.

I’m sure it is! You are introducing a material that is highly compliant in 6° of freedom versus the rigid union offered by the carbon shims.

I can also confidently say that if it sounds better with the complaint material versus rigid material then you have introduced a band-aid that is fixing a problem elsewhere in the system (usually mechanical feedback reaching the cartridge motor from the listening environment.) BUT you have significantly deteriorated the degree to which your cartridge motor can accurately transcribe motion to electrical energy. If this describes your situation, contact me directly and I can give you some ideas for a different path to head down that should ultimately give you much greater performance.