Etsuro Gold MC Cartridge in house

microstrip

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ok; please let's move on (for the second time:eek:) from this price/distribution/re-tipping subject matter. it's depressing:(. we have all made our points. and this product deserves better. if you just cannot help yourself please go to the 'other' Etsuro Gold thread and dump on that one. i promise a listening perception post later tonight when i get home and can listen to my fabulous Etsuro Gold cartridge.:)

which i love to do!!!!

Sorry Mike, but re-tipping is an interesting subject with any cartridge, as well as expected diamond life - as, just for example, tube life in threads on expensive tubes.

I look forward to reading about your listening experience, but as long as threads are kept civilized and factual I think we should not have taboo subjects in WBF.
 
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Bobvin

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I look forward to reading about your listening experience, but as long as threads are kept civilized and factual I think we should not have taboo subjects in WBF.

Maybe no taboo subjects, but certainly its fair to try to get the train back on the tracks.
 

spiritofmusic

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Prefer smoothing running trains to trainwrecks.
 

spiritofmusic

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What is so patently stupid is that Joshua didn't even check whether Mike bought this cart ex demo or s/h.

Are we really saying if he had found his Select 2 from one careful owner and started his thread, MSB USA would be angry and would vocalise this publicly.
 

Mike Lavigne

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Getting back to the thread...I love this cartridge so much I purchased 2 of them.

congrats Billy!

i'm honored to be in your Etsuro Gold club. and i can really understand why you would own 2 of them. i expect after i spend more time, that it might be hard to listen to anything else.;)

which arm/tt do you prefer with the Etsuro Gold at this point?

i did really enjoy that video about your amazing room and system.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...ition-system-coverage-by-jana-dagdagan.29293/
 
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Billygxx

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Nov 23, 2015
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Thanks Mike,
Nice club to be in. The Gold club of course.
I know it sounds like a cop out but my two systems are so different, I am not sure they can be realistically compared. My work system is all tube Aires-Cerat Talos phono and Impera preamp with an AS-2000 table and a Primary Control FCL tone arm. Aires Cerat Symphonia horn speakers. My home system uses a Soulution 755 phono that acts as a preamp also(MSB Select preamp is bypassed) to High Fidelity solid state amp to Magico M-6s. Though Soulution and High Fidelity do a good job of being tube like and Aires Cerat does a good job of being Solid State like, they are wholly different sounds. Both rooms have some issues to be worked out but through the headphones the Gold,Talos, and Primary Control are just soul capturing.
I first heard the Gold on a visit to Cyprus and the workshop of Stavros Danos of Aires Cerat. We pretty much listened to Etsuro Gold cartridge for 3 days straight. It’s a very beautiful luxuriant sound. I know, that’s a pretty fuzzy description but other audiophiles more capable than myself should describe it. I am not giving up my other cartridges and Van Den Hull’s setup of his own cartridge in Munich was an eye opening experience of what a cartridge designer can do when he personally sets up the table. Nice to have my taste validated by someone with your depth of experience.
 

jeff1225

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The gray market exists because of price gauging....period. We live in a global market, the most effective way to neutralize a gray market is to homogenize pricing globally. Its absolutely ridiculous to think that you can control pricing on a local level of something that's small, easy to ship and has no local market voltage considerations.
 

bonzo75

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The gray market exists because of price gauging....period. We live in a global market, the most effective way to neutralize a gray market is to homogenize pricing globally. Its absolutely ridiculous to think that you can control pricing on a local level of something that's small, easy to ship and has no local market voltage considerations.

In all markets, the grey market is the best source of price efficiency and price discovery.
 
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Lagonda

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The gray market exists because of price gauging....period. We live in a global market, the most effective way to neutralize a gray market is to homogenize pricing globally. Its absolutely ridiculous to think that you can control pricing on a local level of something that's small, easy to ship and has no local market voltage considerations.
There are some aspects where grey
market import has an unfair advantage in some countries.
High sales/import taxes can make
up 30-40% of local distributors price.
Easily circumvented by parallel
import.
 

jeff1225

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In all markets, the grey market is the best source of price efficiency and discovery.
There are some aspects where grey
market import has an unfair advantage in some countries.
High sales/import taxes can make
up 30-40% of local distributors price.
Easily circumvented by parallel
import.

This is only if the importer illegality skirts the taxes and import duties. That is the black market and not the gray market.
 
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Lagonda

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This is only if the importer illegality skirts the taxes and import duties. That is the black market and not the gray market.
And quite easily done with a cartridge ;)
 
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Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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took a new picture of my lovely Etsuro Gold in the hopes it will inspire all you (insert appropriate derogatory descriptor of choice) to go and start your own 'grey market' thread and stop crapping on this one. yes; i know 'i'm not the boss of you'.....but don't you think you have made your damn point? enough already.

hey......i already asked twice nicely.:rolleyes:

EG-6.jpg
 
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dan31

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Hows the gold settling? Any changes needed for VTF or loading? From what I have read it’s the current top MC. Thanks for putting up with the earlier side track.
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Hows the gold settling? Any changes needed for VTF or loading? From what I have read it’s the current top MC. Thanks for putting up with the earlier side track.

listening to an Argerich, Rostropovitch DG Chopin Sonata right now. sounds simply magical. continue to be struck by the combination of subtlety. tone, timbre and ultra refined grain less detail. the energy and flow makes the music so alive.

https://www.discogs.com/Argerich-Ro...ise-Op-3-Adagio-Allegro-Op-70/release/2510264

as far as break-in and settling, so far i'm not really noticing any significant change going on. i've put about 20 hours on top of the 10-15 it already had. i've not really gone back to any references repeatedly to easily track differences. i'm too busy being in awe of how it so simply unravels more challenging pressings. just never a miss step. so i keep throwing new faces at it.

i think jazdoc is going to visit this weekend and that will be a great opportunity to allow us to play around a bit and we will see what more we can coax out of the Gold.
 
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Ron Resnick

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Does anyone know how Etsuro explains how the gold leaf applied over the Duralumin body dampens resonance in the Duralumin body?
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Thanks Mike,
Nice club to be in. The Gold club of course.
I know it sounds like a cop out but my two systems are so different, I am not sure they can be realistically compared. My work system is all tube Aires-Cerat Talos phono and Impera preamp with an AS-2000 table and a Primary Control FCL tone arm. Aires Cerat Symphonia horn speakers. My home system uses a Soulution 755 phono that acts as a preamp also(MSB Select preamp is bypassed) to High Fidelity solid state amp to Magico M-6s. Though Soulution and High Fidelity do a good job of being tube like and Aires Cerat does a good job of being Solid State like, they are wholly different sounds. Both rooms have some issues to be worked out but through the headphones the Gold,Talos, and Primary Control are just soul capturing.
I first heard the Gold on a visit to Cyprus and the workshop of Stavros Danos of Aires Cerat. We pretty much listened to Etsuro Gold cartridge for 3 days straight. It’s a very beautiful luxuriant sound. I know, that’s a pretty fuzzy description but other audiophiles more capable than myself should describe it. I am not giving up my other cartridges and Van Den Hull’s setup of his own cartridge in Munich was an eye opening experience of what a cartridge designer can do when he personally sets up the table. Nice to have my taste validated by someone with your depth of experience.

Dear Billy,

Congratulations on your Etsuro Gold collection!

What other cartridges are you using presently?

Are you able to tell us your impressions between the Etsuro Gold and any other cartridges you have compared directly to it on the same turntable?

Thank you!
 

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