Koetsu Onyx Platinum, van den Hul Stradivarius on Ikeda 407, Fidelity Research FR64s
- Thread starter shakti
- Start date
nice step up!
good to know , that the newer are different. I only know the older version, which was not that good.
But so I have to try again!
good to know , that the newer are different. I only know the older version, which was not that good.
But so I have to try again!
PeterA, I always enjoy your point of view and your polite way of expressing it. In this case I am referring to your comments in 27 above.
I don't think any of us would drive a car (maybe a tractor?) without proper tires, springs and shocks.
Consider the analogy of a cartridge/tonearm mechanically and in terms of fluid dynamics to a car suspension. Just as one wants to keep the stylus in the groove and not "jittering around" (thank you Mr. Ledermann for that phrase) so one wants to keep the largest tire patch one can on the road at all times, all other things being equal, for best handling, etc. One would not drive a car without springs. One would not drive a car without shock absorbers. For best performance one wants least unsprung weight on the suspension. In setting up a suspension in a car one trades off the spring rate versus the damping of the shocks or as the British put it, the dampers. So one wants to have a set up where one can use a process of statically balancing, dynamically balancing (springs) and then damping (fluid) at ones' command and option. I'll bet PeterA has experimented with this.
Note that some suspensions are hydraulic and use hardware sensors to predict and react to loading, using predictive rules to keep the rubber on the road, anticipating conditions on the track.
However, for our listening analog analogically, this state of affairs is further complicated by the configuration of the internals of the cartridge both mechanically and electrically as well as the cantilever material, damping, and stylus shape. As the informative measurements and writings of jcarr show, electrical loading affects not only the frequency response of the cartridge but its ability to "overload" on the high end, the phono stage itself. So now we know how to adjust the "high frequencies" of the cartridge.
What I find lacking, at this juncture, is a discussion of the low-frequency resonance of the tonearm-cartridge combination and how that affects performance. How ever, I think that PeterA is on to something else with his use of SME arms because he maybe damping out low frequency resonances with the judicious use of fluids. Of course there are other variables involved but it is late on the day. I wonder how many with their big-woofered dynamic loudspeakers have removed the grilles from their speakers and seen the woofers bounce around whilst playing vinyl? Perhaps this is one reason many either prefer mini-monitors or electrically cross their speakers over to separate sub-woofers? Or when I suspended my BD 2 A from water-pipes because my cheap grad school apartment was too lively, floor and other wise.
I don't think any of us would drive a car (maybe a tractor?) without proper tires, springs and shocks.
Consider the analogy of a cartridge/tonearm mechanically and in terms of fluid dynamics to a car suspension. Just as one wants to keep the stylus in the groove and not "jittering around" (thank you Mr. Ledermann for that phrase) so one wants to keep the largest tire patch one can on the road at all times, all other things being equal, for best handling, etc. One would not drive a car without springs. One would not drive a car without shock absorbers. For best performance one wants least unsprung weight on the suspension. In setting up a suspension in a car one trades off the spring rate versus the damping of the shocks or as the British put it, the dampers. So one wants to have a set up where one can use a process of statically balancing, dynamically balancing (springs) and then damping (fluid) at ones' command and option. I'll bet PeterA has experimented with this.
Note that some suspensions are hydraulic and use hardware sensors to predict and react to loading, using predictive rules to keep the rubber on the road, anticipating conditions on the track.
However, for our listening analog analogically, this state of affairs is further complicated by the configuration of the internals of the cartridge both mechanically and electrically as well as the cantilever material, damping, and stylus shape. As the informative measurements and writings of jcarr show, electrical loading affects not only the frequency response of the cartridge but its ability to "overload" on the high end, the phono stage itself. So now we know how to adjust the "high frequencies" of the cartridge.
What I find lacking, at this juncture, is a discussion of the low-frequency resonance of the tonearm-cartridge combination and how that affects performance. How ever, I think that PeterA is on to something else with his use of SME arms because he maybe damping out low frequency resonances with the judicious use of fluids. Of course there are other variables involved but it is late on the day. I wonder how many with their big-woofered dynamic loudspeakers have removed the grilles from their speakers and seen the woofers bounce around whilst playing vinyl? Perhaps this is one reason many either prefer mini-monitors or electrically cross their speakers over to separate sub-woofers? Or when I suspended my BD 2 A from water-pipes because my cheap grad school apartment was too lively, floor and other wise.
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I have always loved the 64S but never could get on with the 64fx,despite having owned two of them.
However the 64S does have a resonant quality. Damping the underside of the lift platform helped somewhat but the resonance remained. All attempts at damping the armtube failed,destroying the essential qualities of the arm. That is until I I tried sliding the cheap pieces of rubber found on throwaway ballpointpen grips over the armtube. In my set-up this has worked wonders,killing the harshness and squashed upper mid dynamics but keeping the huge expansive sound that is such a magical characteristic of the 64S.
Just my findings in my system and my tastes.It is cheap and reversible.
IMG_0314
My complements. The Connoisseur BD -2A of yore (poor man's Linn) used to have a clear shrink wrap applied about 1/3 of the way up its arm. Could one experiment with wrapping blue 3M painter's tape, also easily reversed, on other tone-arms perhaps achieving similar results?
How did you get grip over the arm without cutting it?
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Beautiful cartridgeListening to vdh, Benz and Koetsu carts in different bodies, I am mostly impressed about the differences. Specially combining the carts with different headshells.
I learned from the Stradivarius experience , that even paint can make a big difference . So I started to read about the Japanese Urushi tree and the way of creating the art of Urushi painting. Looking into the Koetsu portfolio , reading to some of their explanations, it seems, that the resonance frequency of the Urushi paint match to the Koetsu wooden rosewood bodies. So Koetsu created a series wonderful painted Urushi cartridges.
Investigating the influence of body typed really is fun, but I had to order some more of the Dereneville MiniMat headshell support, had to get a 3 to 4g Headshell weight to overcome the less weight of the urushi versus the Onyx.
As I have the 2x Onyx in the Jelco rosewood/magnesium and in the Yamamoto Titanium heads hell I tried both headshells with the Urushi. But with both headshell the Urushi sound was a kind if boring, dark and dull. So I decided to have the urushi running on the Clearaudio burn in record with demag function as well.
This morning the Urushi was waking up, agility is back, dynamics are back. After a quick comparison I preferred the Titanium headshell with the 800' ortofon leads as the favorite combination.
During the last flee market I was able to buy some old Clannad records, incl the "Macalla" and the "Sirius" record, with records were used to understand the body types better.
The Koetsu Urushi Sky Blue plays Clannad with a lot of vibes, dynamics and emotional involvement. The drummer has a good punch and I was really enjoying the performance. But after a while I started to miss some resolution, some 3D staging and a sharper contour of the instruments in the room.
So I changed to the stone body Koetsu (in Titanium headshell). Immediately a better structure and a deeper and wider soundstage appear. The singer is more close, the room is opening. Basslines get clear focus and structure.
But....But, there is something with the wooden Urushi, which makes me understand, that there are people out there, preferring the Urushi . The understanding of the emotional flow of the music is so easy with the Urushi. The stone body is more neutral in this character and (within the Koetsu world) a little little bit less involving.
Having said that, for me is now way back to an Urushi, if you have heard the precise staging and structure a stony body can give.
Looking forward to "meet" more Koetsu characters
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