Etsuro Gold MC Cartridge in house

[ddk]

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

It’s hand applied and looks it’s then covered with some kind of epoxy resin. The gold leaf application is very simple and is only decorative any claimed dampening is from the resin not the gold leaf.

david

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, David.

I assumed the gold leaf was purely decorative. (How could metal leaf dampen resonance on a metal cartridge body?) But on the EtsuroJapan.com website describing the Etsuro Gold cartridge we find:

“The elegant gold leaf finish of the housing was succeeded by the cooperation of Hakuichi, located in Kanazawa prefecture. Etsuro Gold is finished using “Hon Kinpaku” 24K purity gold to surround the super rigid extra-super duralumin body (A7075) to reduce unwanted resonance.” (emphasis added)

 

[Bobvin]

Makes me wonder what difference in sound might be heard if the Bordeaux’s Urishi lacquer finish were used in conjunction with the diamond cantilever of the Gold... maybe a product offering between the two?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

It’s hand applied and looks it’s then covered with some kind of epoxy resin. The gold leaf application is very simple and is only decorative any claimed dampening is from the resin not the gold leaf.

david

David,

i know with your experience as a jewelry manufacturer as well as your experience manufacturing other things, you are very knowledgeable about these things; but do you know that the gold leaf is only decorative because you asked Etsuro or their distributor and they told you that, or is that your own opinion based on observation?

in any case, i'm not in any position to question your opinion. just wanting to understand the difference between fact and professional supposition.

thank you.

 

[ddk]

David,

i know with your experience as a jewelry manufacturer as well as your experience manufacturing other things, you are very knowledgeable about these things; but do you know that the gold leaf is only decorative because you asked Etsuro or their distributor and they told you that, or is that your own opinion based on observation?

in any case, i'm not in any position to question your opinion. just wanting to understand the difference between fact and professional supposition.

thank you.

I used to sell the stuff Mike I know exactly what it is. If you visit Kanazawa prefecture you'll see at least a hundred shops with a bunch of guys pounding on the floor pounding the stuff down. The leaf is air light and has no properties of any kind, the gold is purely cosmetic finish and is used in all kinds of products in Japan from hand lotions to deserts and food sprinkle. Most of these shops sell gold thread or finished panels too that come from mechanized factories.

I would question the translation rather than accusing anyone of false claims, in the original Japanese text they might have just mentioned the duralumin for it's dampening qualities. Hakuichi is mostly a distributor of wares decorated with gold leaf your nothing special about them.

https://hakuichi.com

david

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I used to sell the stuff Mike I know exactly what it is. If you visit Kanazawa prefecture you'll see at least a hundred shops with a bunch of guys pounding on the floor pounding the stuff down. The leaf is air light and has no properties of any kind, the gold is purely cosmetic finish and is used in all kinds of products in Japan from hand lotions to deserts and food sprinkle. Most of these shops sell gold thread or finished panels too that come from mechanized factories.

I would question the translation rather than accusing anyone of false claims, in the original Japanese text they might have just mentioned the duralumin for it's dampening qualities. Hakuichi is mostly a distributor of wares decorated with gold leaf your nothing special about them.

https://hakuichi.com

david

thank you for clarifying your thinking.

personally i don't care 'why' the Etsuro Gold sounds so good to me. but if Etsuro tells me it's partly because of the Gold leaf covering i'd tend to believe them. they do build lots of cartridges, and OEM parts of cartridges, across many Japanese brands.

i think if you 'tell' us about how something is about a competing product, it should have a qualifier of some sort if it's just your opinion. and that is just my opinion.

 

[ddk]

thank you for clarifying your thinking.

personally i don't care 'why' the Etsuro Gold sounds so good to me. but if Etsuro tells me it's partly because of the Gold leaf covering i'd tend to believe them. they do build lots of cartridges, and OEM parts of cartridges, across many Japanese brands.

i think if you 'tell' us about how something is about a competing product, it should have a qualifier of some sort if it's just your opinion. and that is just my opinion.

That's fine Mike I don't mind you asking. What matters is how it sounds, anyone can apply some leaf to any surface the same with stone bodies it's very simple process and in this case I probably know a lot more about the process than the cartridge manufacturer, I don't need to ask them anything.

Edit- To clarify my comments are only about the manufacturing process and not any judgment about sound or quality of the cartridges.

david

 

[bonzo75]

Etsuro used to make carts for others, and then started making their own. Guyser on this forum, whom I covered almost 2 years ago in my DIY horn report on zero distortion, and who was part of a two member team that designed voyd reference, and who has been to the Kondo factory for training on making carts back then, was one of the first to spot their carts, then did Mik, and Mik bought many and developed with them. The first mention of etsuro on this forum from me comes in October 2017 having heard the middle model at Guy's place. A few months ago I also invited him over to my friend's place (whon I covered in the brinkmann balance Avalon Soulution Allnic write up) to compare that etsuro with AN IO Ltd, Decca reference, and a few koetsus. That was the older Bordeaux.

So this is the second cart, vdh Stradivarius was mentioned by me as special a year before David sold to tang and started the craze. So anyone who wants to test if an early version of a cart is going to be successful, please send me a sample

 

[Bobvin]

As I read the info on the Etsuro website, I wondered about how coating the duralumin body could reduce resonance, but cognitively figured the urishi lacquer, with its hardness qualities, might offer greater possibilities than .0001 mm thin gold leaf. The lacquer layers no doubt being considerably thicker than gold foil. My brother, being a luthier, taught me a lot about finishes, with the urishi coating seeming similar to shellac.

 

[djsina2]

Is the Argent MC110 the predecessor to the Etsuro line? Maybe ddk would know...

 

[Solypsa]

Imho:

If MikeL and Mik think the Etsuro Gold is excellent it no doubt is.

It is no doubt so good due to a number of small but meaningful victories in crafting and assembly. Not due to gold or even diamond...

 

[jazdoc]

I invited myself to Mike's for a short Etsuro audition yesterday and Mike graciously accepted. To establish a baseline, we listened to the Etsuro on the CS Port table/arm and then moved things over to the Saskia/Tosca using the same phono cable.

I won't bury the lede: the Etsuro is a killer cartridge. Having heard many fine cartridges (mainly at Mike's ), the Gold is the current champ at reproducing the sense of 'aliveness' that you get with actual instruments in space. It's a terrific tracker. Nice sense of air surrounding instruments. Bass is flat out killer. Life is short: if you've got the chicken, it's worth checking out.

 

[Solypsa]

I invited myself to Mike's for a short Etsuro audition yesterday and Mike graciously accepted. To establish a baseline, we listened to the Etsuro on the CS Port table/arm and then moved things over to the Saskia/Tosca using the same phono cable.

I won't bury the lede: the Etsuro is a killer cartridge. Having heard many fine cartridges (mainly at Mike's ), the Gold is the current champ at reproducing the sense of 'aliveness' that you get with actual instruments in space. It's a terrific tracker. Nice sense of air surrounding instruments. Bass is flat out killer. Life is short: if you've got the chicken, it's worth checking out.

It would appear that the Gold is way ahead of the Cobalt that we heard at your place and Joel's. Of course it should be but this norm doesn't always apply

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Etsuro used to make carts for others, and then started making their own. Guyser on this forum, whom I covered almost 2 years ago in my DIY horn report on zero distortion, and who was part of a two member team that designed voyd reference, and who has been to the Kondo factory for training on making carts back then, was one of the first to spot their carts, then did Mik, and Mik bought many and developed with them. The first mention of etsuro on this forum from me comes in October 2017 having heard the middle model at Guy's place. A few months ago I also invited him over to my friend's place (whon I covered in the brinkmann balance Avalon Soulution Allnic write up) to compare that etsuro with AN IO Ltd, Decca reference, and a few koetsus. That was the older Bordeaux.

So this is the second cart, vdh Stradivarius was mentioned by me as special a year before David sold to tang and started the craze. So anyone who wants to test if an early version of a cart is going to be successful, please send me a sample

thank you Ked, for the background.

a small correction; Etsuro is not the OEM company for cartridges, that is Excel Sound, which has been making cartridges (mostly OEM for other Japanese cartridge brands) since the 1950's. Etsuro is an off-shoot company started in 2016. when Dai-Ichi Shoji and Excel Sound jointly planned and developed the Etsuro series high-end MC cartridge. Excel Sound designed each component.

scroll down on this link to details about this partnership, and details about the application of the Gold Leaf.

https://etsurojapan.com/concept

 

[bonzo75]

thank you Ked, for the background.

a small correction; Etsuro is not the OEM company for cartridges, that is Excel Sound, which has been making cartridges (mostly OEM for other Japanese cartridge brands) since the 1950's. Etsuro is an off-shoot company started in 2016. when Dai-Ichi Shoji and Excel Sound jointly planned and developed the Etsuro series high-end MC cartridge. Excel Sound designed each component.

scroll down on this link to details about this partnership, and details about the application of the Gold Leaf.

https://etsurojapan.com/concept

Hi yes, now I recollect.

 

[jazdoc]

It would appear that the Gold is way ahead of the Cobalt that we heard at your place and Joel's. Of course it should be but this norm doesn't always apply

Not sure we can draw any conclusions from that demo because my line stage was acting wonky at the time.

 

[PeterA]

So this is the second cart, vdh Stradivarius was mentioned by me as special a year before David sold to tang and started the craze. So anyone who wants to test if an early version of a cart is going to be successful, please send me a sample

That is great Ked. Keep us informed of your many discoveries, please. I think any vdh Strad or Master Sig craze that you may have started died when Mike sold his two vdh cartridges and bought the Etsuro Gold, LOL.

BTW, on what turntable and system will you play all of these early version cartridges that WBF members will be sending you?

 

[ddk]

Is the Argent MC110 the predecessor to the Etsuro line? Maybe ddk would know...

No idea, this manufacturer was never on my radar.
To add- aside from some earlier Denons I don't really care for vintage Japanese mc cartridges all the "exotic" ones I owned were way too colored for my taste, I struggle liking many of the modern ones for the same reason.

david

 

[Solypsa]

Not sure we can draw any conclusions from that demo because my line stage was acting wonky at the time.

True, I forgot about that!

As an aside, at Durand's place, that same Cobalt seemed to show a lot of promise, but also tendencies towards stridence. He was using a prototype phono with fixed loading so, as usual, lots of variables...

Whatever the case I always love hearing that someone has found a new level in their playback, as it seems MikeL has.

 

[Barry2013]

I recently bought a Cobalt from Mik which is on my SME20/3, SME V which operates through a Whest PS30 RDTSE phono stage, Amplification is a Vitus SIA 025 and the speakers are YG Acoustic Kipod Signature passives.
The resultant sound is not strident in anyway, shape or form. I have heard the Etsuro Gold and Bordeaux at Miks on three of his high end turntables including his CS Port.
I certainly could not claim that the Cobalt is as good as the Gold and Bordeaux which reproduce a more comprehensively nuanced sound but I can say that the Cobalt has a wonderfully balanced sound across the audio spectrum which does not leave me craving for the higher models.
IMHO Miks Cobalt is outstanding value for moneyand if I were to trade up in the future his Bordeaux would be my choice.